Lavinia asked Benita to stop adjusting the back of her dress because she was beginning to feel like an item being returned to a shop.
“It was caught,” Benita said.
“It has been uncaught for some time.”
“I’m finding something to do.”
Lavinia turned and took her friend’s hands. Benita looked startled, then laughed at herself.
“There,” Lavinia said. “You can be frightened with me without improving anything.”
They stood together in the small room for a moment. It was late April, more than a year since Hugo had left the community, and longer still since they had met at the centre. The months had contained enough decisions to make the wedding feel both fully chosen and suddenly improbable. She was thirty-seven. She had said yes to a life she wanted, and her fingers were cold.
“Still want to do it?” Benita asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. I didn’t want to assume…
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