No one’s talking about it, he’d said. Irene’s head dipped slightly to the side as she looked at him, wondering what the it was that he was referring to. Would it be too impertinent to ask further? But the revelation that he was a widower, while given in a tone that suggested it was both a thing of the past and something that had lost its sting; if it had ever had one.

“Is that something you’re searching for, then?” She asked. “Results? Happily ever after, what have you?”

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