"I'm so glad you're able to come, Dulcie," then turned to the doctor. "Welcome aboard, Doctor. Any friend of Dulcie's is a friend of mine and Tom's." ...Thank you," he smiled, "I'm looking forward to hearing you sing – I've heard very good things about you."She blushed a little, "I'm sure they were exaggerated." I'm sure they weren't. I know Tessa Spark quite well – she's married to a colleague." (Tessa Spark being the Deputy Head of the school Chrissie worked at part time.)They manoeuvred the. I held her hand and asked if she was alright. Although she said yes I could tell something was not right. We arrived back at the hotel for a final drink in the bar. Karl was chatting to a young woman at the bar and as Rachel and I got closer I realized just who it was.It was Sarah. She smiled at me and mouthed 'Don't worry'. We approached and she smiled at both Rachel and myself and explained to Rachel that we had been friends for a while. This relieved me but Rachel didn't seem upset. On the. Mike was there, looking at me with a sly grin of “I told you so” before I gave him a “good morning” as I passed by into the shop. I was almost always the first one to unlock the door in the morning. It wasn’t often I was in later than six-forty-five. The business didn’t actually open until eight, but several of our employees came in earlier, especially if they had to make phone calls to suppliers in the east. The difference was that I was usually the last one to leave the building, well after. I offered to help her, but she said she'd rather do it alone. So I reluctantly went back to my place.For the next two weeks, Keiko said she didn't want to see me, that it would be too sad for both of us if we tried to be together like we were before. She said we needed to make a clean break, that to try to keep our relationship going by long distance would just make us frustrated, and that when she left I shouldn't try to find her or contact her. It would be too difficult for both of us.I ate.