Chapter Eight – 23 years and 1 month before the collapse
It wasn’t easy for Annabel, trudging around different properties, climbing all those stairs. She had to stop for a rest and to wipe the sweat from her brow all the time. The pain in the small of her back had returned. She was struggling to keep the reasons for her excursions from her sister-in-law’s flat a secret. Jim was all in favour of telling Lisa how ridiculous he thought her demands for rent were, but Annabel felt it was better to do the flat hunting in secret. Annabel’s absence from the flat during the day meant that the dirty dishes were piling up, and Jim insisted that neither of them do it in the evenings.
The landlady of the first flat Annabel looked at took one look at her bump.
“You are expecting, are you?”
Annabel n
