Chapter 45

• I was sitting in the same chair in which I had sat last time, and she sat on the leopard skin-covered sofa. We drank wine and it was a good bottle, and we chatted. I wanted to know more about her, but not too much; not yet at least, and I did not want to ask her. I wanted to see what she would volunteer and I knew that she would know exactly the right amount to tell me for now. I was curious about her husband.
• ‘I expect I’m not your first ripe old lady,’ she said.
• ‘No, but you are the oldest.’