7
The encounter
London, March 2010
Eleni looked at the clock sneakily, trying not to wake Nicolas up. Four a.m. She had been tossing and turning all night. She could not believe that it was happening again. After all these years of therapy, having declared herself cured, and here she was, lying awake in the middle of the night thinking of a stranger. It is almost an irony to stay awake in the night when you are the mother of a baby and the baby has been sleeping through, she thought to herself.
She got up as noiselessly as she could to check on Chloe again. It was the third time already, and if she was not careful she was going to end up waking her. Chloe was a light sleeper, like her. She stared at her small body stretched out in the cot, her arms spread trustfully out. Every time she
