QUOTE : Oh,” says Charmaine. She must not sound eager. “What sort of job?” “Working with me,” says Ed. “As my personal assistant. That way, I can keep an eye on you. Make sure you’re not overstrained.” You don’t fool me, thinks Charmaine. “Oh, well, I’m not sure…That sounds…,” she says as if wavering. “No need to discuss it now,” he says. “We have lots of time to do that later. Now eat up, like a good girl.” That’s the role he’s chosen for her: good girl. She feels a sudden wave of longing for Max. Bad girl was what she was for him. Bad, and deserving of punishment. She leans forward to cut up a potato, and Ed leans forward too. She knows exactly what the view is from his vantage point: she’s rehearsed the angles in the mirror. A curve of breast, with an edging of black lace. Is he sweating? Yes, make that a definite. Is that his knee, giving her own knee the gentlest of nudges under the table? Yes, it is: she knows a knee under the table when she feels one. She moves her own knee away. “There,” she says. “I’m eating. I’m being good.