Alan I left the house without a trace of Cyril. There was no sign of her, I stopped at the door to her bedroom but there was no sound coming from there. She probably went early. For once, I was glad. If I didn’t see her, I wouldn’t have to think about her. If I didn’t think about her, maybe…just maybe…work would go smoothly. I was deluding myself, of course. Work, I knew, wasn’t going to fix anything. But that didn’t stop me from trying. I needed to bury myself in something, anything, that could occupy my mind. If my work didn’t demand my full attention, I would lose myself to thoughts of her again. The drive to the office was uneventful, the usual humdrum of traffic and city noise filling the car. I focused on the road, my hands gripping the steering wheel as if that wo

