page18 (1/2)

It aer had ed to throw her whole life out of kilter

She daydrea the night with hiht have been like She projected herself into a future that they would never have and fantasised about having a relationship with him—a proper relationship

Then she remembered what he had said about the women he dated, what he had told her about the sort of woh-powered women, who knehat they wanted out of life the very second they eed from the womb

Another feeble ring from the doorbell and she padded across to the front door Ten seconds was all it took Her flat was so small that she could practically flick on the television in the poky sitting roo in the kitchen

She thought of Sergio’s apart worked and did what it was supposed to do The lights didn’t flicker o too well stocked, the sofas didn’t sag in the middleand the bed She could only think that his bed would be ten times the size of hers and wouldn’t creak every time he moved

Susie knew that she had to snap out of her torpor because it wouldn’t get her anywhere Her io and had peppered her with questions about the new restaurant She had been irritated when Susie had responded in e the conversation, having put Louise Sadler straight and told her that there had been no nicethe meal with her

Then her —about how delighted everyone was that she was getting randchild was on the way for her motherLouise Sadler’s sister

Susie’s , just below the surface coe with her aunt, Kate Two years separated them, and ru froer of the two—had uttered her first words

Louise had married first, but Kate had had a child first Louise had had a job with more status, but Kate’s had earned her more money

And now Kate’s daughter Clarissa was hopping up the aisle—the first in the family to do so

Susie shuddered to think of her nant and had a baby nine er