‘You look amazing, Clarie,’ he said, slowly, staring deeply into my green eyes. His hands went round the back of my head and pulled out my hair ba...d and unraveled my plait, putting it over my shoulders. He grinned. ‘Beautiful.’ I smiled whilst blushing. Enrique grabbed my hands in his and he slowly led me around the room as he taught me how to dance. He was gentle and patient with me. He made me laugh and smile. We took a break and Enrique stood behind me and circled his strong arms around my. That was certainly an issue, becausethere were a lot of dogs in this neighbourhood. If any of them snuck inthey would make a horrible mess of the lawn. Quite how the gate had beenleft unlocked was lost on me, maybe it had been Jason hurrying about withsomething. Either way, I couldn't leave it open or I'd have a horriblemess to clean. I hurried downstairs in my towel.I stepped into the back garden and tip-toed quickly across the lawn,slamming the gate shut. No biggie. Prevention certainly was. ‘Ah,’ nodded Angela in agreement. She took a draw from the cigarette and held it in for a few seconds before tilting her head back and allowing a long, slow stream of smoke escape from her lips. ‘These things aren’t too bad. What brand are they?’ ‘I don’t remember,’ Gwen said softly in a distracted tone. ‘It’ll be on the packet.’ ‘Yes, of course,’ Angela whispered, looking to the table at the right-hand side of the couch. ‘Marlboro. I phoned my Mom.’ ‘Oh?’ asked Gwen, suddenly curious. ‘What. I had left the house this morning before you were dressed, so now I was trying to decide which matching panties and bra you were wearing. They were, no doubt, matching and would have gone with what you were wearing on the outside. Since you were wearing a navy blue skirt and a white blouse, I decided that you were wearing the white set that I got for you about a year ago. I could imagine you standing there wearing only that and my blood boiled a little. In less than a minute you cut your eyes.