Chapter 123

PRETENCE

What was it?It's fine, she said, rolling her eyes.It turned out that being late had saved Brian from an argument.She had gotten so angry because he hadn't returned as she was ready to hit him.

Though she calmed down by morning, she no longer felt the need to talk too much.A good night's sleep had put the problem into perspective.She realized she didn't need to discuss it, she only needed a little more time to solve it.

Besides, Brian wouldn't know enough about what had happened that day to be of any help to her.

“No, tell me, please”, said Brian.

“OK”, she said reluctantly.

“There were two things, actually.Firstly, Catherine told me she was going to be away for awhile and not to worry about it”.

“OK”, said Brian carefully.Not sure what the problem was.

“Surely it's normal to say that to your friend?I definitely say that to my friends.But she also told me that I should be nicer to you”, she continued, ignoring his reply.

“Why do you think she would say that to me?”Brian was su