February 9th

“I must have been mad to let Marion talk me into this,” I said as Sophie and I strolled up Marion’s road. We’d decided to walk from my house in the hope that there might be something stronger than tea to drink. Some wine might ease my nerves. Sophie is immune to shyness thanks to years of showing houses to total strangers.

“I must have been mad to let you talk me into this,” replied Sophie. “I’m not even from here. I don’t have kids in the school.”

Children could be tricky, perhaps Sophie wasn’t entirely without anxiety. She always wanted to have children, even when we were in school together. She tried for years with Gary and when they got the doctors involved it...

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