Even Tom's attitude had changed and, from polite but reserved, he became more closed and clearly hostile. His smile was now a sneer, his gaze was hard beneath the taut eyelids, his nostrils often curled due to the difficulty of suppressing his anger. It was for Alice an emotional crescendo, transferred from Tom to her without any filter. Tom had always hated those people since forever, so the huge amount of resentment became something to curb, before she could suffer from it.
Out of sheer courtesy, she warned him she would have blocked the connection for a while, but he didn’t react. Pretending to have a slight headache, she touched her temples, striving instead of conjuring the necessary forces to erect a barrier between their consciences. As Doc had suggested, she concentrated on her br
