.. requested in the past that we change to a one-hour lunch break,” Was the only reply Sarah could come up with.“Hmm.” Stella replied at the sam... as she winked at Marie. “Now if I recall correctly, the other day you mentioned the annual salary review, Mrs Parker. Have you got the file handy?”Sarah reached into Estelle’s in-tray and, removing the top folder from it, placed the folder on the desk before her boss.Stella didn’t even open the folder, she picked up a pen and wrote ‘Five percent. How do you know me and why are you here?”She was really having a tough time. “You’re my sister.”Mom let it come out before I could. “She doesn’t have a sister. I would know wouldn’t I? Who are you really?”She was quite taken aback by the abruptness from Mom and tears were again forming in her eyes. “Sorry, you’re right. I should probably say half-sister? Maybe?”I shook my head. No longer playing the act of being unaware, we were now real-time. “What do you mean, half-sister? How could you be my. While Dave was about as big a fan of letting the TV babysit the kids as Shae, a limited amount of it was all right, in his opinion -- and this morning, it gave the two of them the chance to talk about adult things. "I was a little surprised last night when you said you'd pretty well made up your mind to move to Bradford to be with me," he observed as he started mixing pancake batter."Well, yeah," she said, trying to help in an unfamiliar kitchen, but trying to stay out of his way, as well.. ”“That Kent van der Meer is a prick is not exactly a revelation! But I’m glad both of them are doing OK. Things here are going pretty well. Getting into the swing of school, of course. And Bethany’s coming to visit this weekend.”“Cool. How was Tatyana?”“Good. We pretty much agreed that at this point there isn’t a reasonable way forward for us given our goals. But we’ll keep seeing each other until she heads back to Russia for her diplomatic school.”“Another girl who just can’t get enough of my.