your family, Claire. Do you have brothers and sisters?'
'Just a younger sister. Francesca. We were never close, but things got better when we grew up. In fact, we get along very well now.'
Claire thought of Gina's prickly relationship with her mother-in-law, of Bryony's formal cordiality towards hers. And here she was talking to Anna almost as she would to Gina or Bry. As if they were friends. They walked back towards the house in comfortable silence.
She was soaking in the bath when a tinny rendition of O frondens virga alerted her to a call.
'Hey Claire, it's Bryony.'
'Bry! How are you? You know I'm staying with Simon, right?'
'Yes, yes, I know. I'm fine. Look, about staying with Simon. I wanted to say, I mean, I wanted to ask you something.'
She sounded strangely hesitant, for Bryony.
'What's wrong?'
'Has he told you how old he is?'
So it was about that. 'I haven't asked. Look, I know you and Julia think I'm a bit of a cradle-snatcher, but it's not-'
'He was at school with Luke,' Bryony interrupted, 'You know, Paul's brother. That's why he was at the wedding. They were best mates. Luke's only twenty-one, Claire.'
Oh.
'Fuck.' Claire said quietly.
'Well, that's legal,' Bryony said, apparently relieved to have got it off her chest. 'I thought you should know, I mean, if you didn't know already.'
'Yes, yes you're right Bry. Thanks, I suppose. I'll have to think about this.'
'Of course. You'll be all right, Claire.'
It wasn't clear whether that was a question and Claire didn't know what to answer if it was.
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