“Well, well, well. Look what the cat finally dragged in.”
“I didn’t realise being on time-” perfectly on time, by the way “- was the new late.”
I levelled Ari with a flat stare but she didn’t seem to notice or care. Besides, if anyone here was the cat, it was Ari; her smile was positively Cheshire, utterly unsettling. When I looked at her fingers, long and elegant, I almost expected to see that they were topped with claws.
I sat down at the end of the table. It was another large, round installation with all the chairs bunched up around one end. The end away from me, go figure. Only this time, my separation didn’t bother me so much.
Even without Posy here – late as usual – I felt no urge to integrate.
Jenny, sitting on Ari’s right, shot me a grin eerily similar to said Cheshire de
