They were closed again. Had been, for quite some time. Time was new. She understood time, she thought. Time was what was between things. Ve was also, ...lowly, coming to understand understanding. What she saw meant something, and if she tried, observed more, that meaning would come to her.She still did not understand Jeff.The room was dark, the only faint light coming in from a glass covered opening in the wall. His face was mostly in shadow, but by now she knew every part of it. It was a good. She even had the wild idea that she and her other slender sisters were either from a previous husband or maybe even “adopted” like the poor unfortunates from China.He was so sad looking at her that she instinctively leaned over and kissed him full on the lips just to show him she had no hard feelings.Mamie was surprised when Billie kissed her right back because he was usually so private and reserved and stayed by himself most of the time. She knew it must be difficult for him to be stuck in the. “Where have you been?” he asked rather brusquely. This caught me off guard and I stammered, “I just went for a walk with Tom…er, Mr. Brady. He asked so…”“What’s that on your face?” My hand flew up and I’m sure the look of surprise on my face gave me away.“Did you and my boss have sex in the garden?” he demanded.I burst into tears. Sobbing, I blabbered “No! Well, yes…It’s not what you’re thinking. Oh!” More crying. “We were just walking, talking about you, how well you are doing and your career.. She opened her eyes a little and looked over to it. 6 AM, Thursday morning. She was a fairly light sleeper. Sean, who lay next to her, could sleep through the end of the world. Still, she turned her alarm off and got up quietly so as not to disturb him and walked into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was nude, as she was most of the time now, except for her velvet collar. It was starting to show some signs of wear, now, but the emblem on the front of it still glinted.