Gabriella did not sleep well that night. After a heavy meal of lasagna, washed down with three glasses of wine, she climbed into bed exhausted. She awakened a few hours later in the dark room, painfully aware of the empty space beside her. She sighed heavily and reached out to the empty space beside her and touched the cold sheets like she had been doing for the past three years. She could not think that Damien would be awake somewhere sleepless and lonely. After the sudden case in the Yard suddenly everyone seemed to avoid her like she was a contagious creature. She sometimes wondered if he too was waiting for her to pick up the phone and dial him and then break this tense silence between them which no one seemed to have dared overcome in all these years.
Hugh was a welcome distraction a
