But apparently not today, because she let out a breath then said, “He was a surgeon, like I said, and I wanted very much to do something that would make him proud of me. So I spent the whole of my sixteenth year paying attention to my studies. I…wasn’t the best at school, but I tried very hard that year, because he liked me to. I got a B plus for Biology in the end, and I was very pleased. And I expected him to be impressed, but…he wasn’t.”
She turned her head slightly away, as if she didn’t want him to see her face. “He was disappointed I hadn’t got an A, told me I needed to work harder and not to bother him for any less than an A minus. I was…furious. I don’t know why it hit me so hard that night, it just did. I’d tried so hard for him—I always tried hard for him—but he just wasn’t inte
