28“What are you doing?” I asked. Ruth was about to light a cigarette in the office. Her face assumed a puzzled aspect, then snapped back into focus.
“My mistake. I was daydreaming.”
“I'll say.”
I walked into the office and put my bag down. I was in no mood for eccentricities or frivolities of any sort.
“It won't happen again.”
I thought I heard her hiss behind my back. When I turned, she was calmly typing away at her computer.
I settled in to check my email. A note from Charlotte: I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say. Please forgive me. C. I must have emailed her in some trans-hallucinatory state and of course, didn't remember. I don't even recall what I had written and now, of course, it was too late. Messed up, big time.
Fifteen minutes later, Jessica showed up. She gave me a we
