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The intervening week gave her plenty of ti scenario In fact, it becah the books, paid a visit to their bank er, dealt with the steady flow of clients and their de panic and, between the two, they were giving her a number of reasons to lose sleep

Jack, of course, was once again blithely sauntering through life, cookingwith different co a new relationship which, he assured her, was free of hidden coly checked out her house for contradictory signals, which apparently had been his big round

His aed to keep her on an even keel Thank God for hi, fro her the option of slinking quietly into her own thoughts and getting overwhelmed by them Nor did he press her to share them with him

She had to wait until she was in bed to really indulge in the nightelo around If only she had never been recoreedy and decided that they could handle a really big job If only, if only

But then, so whispered in her head, don’t you feel alive for the first time in years? That always seemed to be the little voice that had the last whisper before she fell asleep and was the first to greet her when she woke up in the

But as the days dragged on and the phone re voice, she felt herself begin to relax a bit more

She had been right There was no need for contact, at least not for a while, not until they needed to ements for delivery of the food They would have to discuss what staff Angelo and Georgina needed and what staff they were going to e to be gained inconversations that would take place down the line and the grind of daily life left her little time to add that further ele

So she didn’t think about it In fact, she so successfully convinced herself that he was a distant bridge that she could happily defer crossing until some unspecified time in the future that it was a shock when, on a bal, she answered the phone and heard his voice down the line

She sat down as her stomach took an immediate nosedive, quickly followed by the rest of her internal organs

‘What are you doing?’ was the first thing he asked her, before she had tiet her head in order

‘What a when?’

‘Now’