IT IS NINE IN THE MORNING when she joins the living. Georgia is gone, off to work at a media centre downtown. Pippa forces herself to walk around the flat, flexing and stretching her aching muscles. Next, she removes the gauze off her wrist to assess her recovery. After forty-eight hours, the swelling has gone down slightly. Satisfied with her self-inspection, she runs the water for her lukewarm Epsom salt bath.
Minutes later, she becomes aware of someone knocking at her door. She leaves the water running, opens the door without thinking.
‘Do you always open the door without checking?’
‘Susan!’ she squeals in surprise. ‘Oh, yeah, I usually check, but I wasn’t thinking.’
‘Obviously.’
Susan unceremoniously gives Pippa a large bouquet of flowers. ‘Get well soon, we miss you at HQ.’
‘Tha
