"Can I get you anything, miss? Something to eat, perhaps?"
I looked at the young staff member holding a tray of small plates and I smiled at her with a rare smile of mine which actually meant my smile answer was no but I don't want to make the person feel useless.
"I'm fine, thank you."
She moved on.. I moved on. That was how it worked in rooms like this one.
The villa had swallowed everyone back inside after the burial, and now the main reception room was full again in the way it had been yesterday, except the quality of the air was different. Yesterday was anticipation and arranged grief. Today was the real thing, quieter and heavier, the kind that sat on people's shoulders and made them speak in half sentences and reach for food they wouldn't taste.
I stayed near the edges.
I acce
