Ellen watched Andrew enter the room and accept her invitation to sit. She saw the anxiety writ large across his face but resisted the temptation to relax him with a smile. Opening the file in front of her she put on her glasses and composed herself. Andrew wanted to look anywhere else, be anywhere else, but managed to look ahead at Ellen, infuriated and scared by her slow, deliberate movements. When she did eventually look up again, Andrew was taken aback by the intensity of her eyes. The glasses seemed to accentuate the power of her appearance and only added to his discomfort.
‘Thank you for coming, Andrew. I think we’re both aware why I asked you here.’
‘We are?’
‘Oh please, do we have to play this game?’
‘It’s not a game as far as I’m concerned. I’d really like to know what’s going
