Chapter Three
High and Low
The next few weeks were difficult for Julie. She struggled with boredom and loneliness. One of the conditions of the deal with Blaine was that Alex not contact her. By necessity she was also cut off from friends and co-workers, for to explain her absence from work and home Alex found it necessary to invent a cover story, which was that she had gone to visit her mother who had taken ill and who lived far away in another part of the country. But in our connected age that alone was not sufficient, for surely her friends would expect her to stay in touch via text or email. So his ingenious mind concocted another falsehood, to wit, that she had lost her phone at the airport, then had the happy thought of embarking upon a digital vacation. No texts, no emails. It was
