Before the Last Bell

Lavinia Daulton moves a chair out from between herself and Hugo Bennion because she is tired of pretending she stays late for the washing-up. Hugo is thirty-nine, a religious brother in temporary vows, and the unguarded laugh she wants from him is becoming harder to forget. He has six weeks left in his term. They have never kissed, and neither intends to begin a hidden romance.

Lavinia, thirty-six, has a flat, friends and a life she likes. She has also learned how easily a woman can call silence independence. Hugo loves the community he may leave. He must make his own decision about its future, with work and a home arranged whether Lavinia chooses him or not. She will not become proof that leaving was right.

An old love song, an empty hall and the ordinary mornings Hugo would miss bring them close without making the choice simple. He wants this particular woman, not an escape from a life that mattered. She wants his touch and a future in which she can ask for what she needs. When the distance between them can finally be crossed, both will have to decide what wanting each other is worth without turning love into a guarantee.