Chapter 64: The Virgin´s Summer, Part 15, Recovering

I settle in. After a few days, I feel well enough to read and do a little work. The room is so pleasant. Lying in bed, looking out of the window, at the sky and the jade green sea, with no sound but the surf and the gulls... I had forgotten how beautiful this place is.

Textbooks piled on the bed, laptop to one side, I work my way through preparations for the next year.

There is a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

James enters with a tray. “Coffee?”

“I´d love some. Thank you.”

“May I sit with you for a while?”

“I´d like that.”

“Where´s Michael?”

“Not sure. He´ll not be far away. He never goes out of earshot of you.”

“Are you and he alright?”

He speaks slowly, choosing his words. “Recent events have... strained... our friendship. I´m hoping that he will be less angry with me as time goes on.”

He sits on the edge of the bed, sipping from a mug, idly scanning my heap of books. Then he looks more closely, picking up one after another, going through the titles.