The family at the next table look embarrassed and you don’t know if it’s because you eat alone, or because their children are squabbling over ice cream.

You read about genetics and look at the art on the walls. There is an empty seascape, and a crowded vase of daffodils.

Jessica is a published writer and a teacher, currently working towards a PhD in creative writing at Teesside University, England. Her first poetry pamphlet As if We Were the Trees, was published in 2015. Her writing has been published with Diamond Twig, Appletree Writers, Reside magazine and in Black Bough magazine, amongst other places.