Part Twenty-Seven: A Hundred Harmless Reasons

Fine, I told myself.

He has gone to the lavatory.

He is getting a coffee.

He is on the telephone to his mother.

There were a hundred perfectly innocent explanations for a broken promise.

I built them at speed, the way you do.

He has gone to find the lavatory, and it is a big hospital, and the one on this floor was shut for cleaning when we came past it.