Jane thought back to the overflowing briefcase that sat on the desk in the spare-bedroom-gone-home-office. A disappointment almost as acute as that of... her relationship with Luke settled upon her at the realization that she was unemployed, now. The past five years of busting her ass at the headquarters of the biggest publishers in the state now cumulated in the manuscripts she’d managed to steal from her office. It was just pathetic enough to cause the tears that crept upon her at the thought of. The man's footsteps echoed against the concrete and glass walls of the surrounding buildings as he hurried along in the chill night. Just ahead of him, at the point where the mist and shadows merged just outside the light of a streetlamp, the vapor and darkness merged, swirled, and coalesced into a human shape.The figure was short, not quite five and a half feet tall, and wrapped in a long coat which hid it almost completely. Dark bobbed hair fell just past the ears from under a brimmed hat. Her energetic mind was buzzing. She had reason to be hopeful. Sarat was six and his sister Sunila was two when their father died of brain fever. The father was a master mason who was in great demand. As he did not drink he had some savings and even at a young age he was able to purchase the house in which the family now lived. Martha was made of sterner material than most women of her class. She did not take to top-servant work as so many young widows and wives of drunkards do. Instead she. It has been a long time, several years in fact, since our relationship that, if we are honest, centred around sex ended. As our 6 pm meeting time drew closer, so too did my nerves. Was she as excited to see me as I was her? Would we have enough to talk about after all this time that we wouldn’t have any awkward silences?As I approach the bar, I see her. She’s sitting on a table out the front, having a glass of wine. She gets up as I approach, and I give her a hug as we say hello. I linger.