After the girls had gone back to their rooms, and I was tidying up the activity room alone, I glanced up to find Sally standing in the doorway.

“Hello, Jemma. Ezra told me about you and Simeon. I’m so sorry! He was so … handsome, and … and chivalrous …” she sighed. “How are you feeling?”

I blew out a breath, amazed that apart from a slight tingle behind my eyes, I didn’t actually think I was in imminent danger of blubbering. “I’m doing okay, thanks, Sally.”

“I … perhaps I shouldn’t bring this up, it being fresh and all, but …” She pinched her top lip. “No. Maybe it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.”

I was like a starving fish, snapping at the bait she’d laid out for me. “Bring what up?”

Sally gave a little half-smile, but the light in her eyes said she was loving every minute of this. She had gossip—Sally with gossip glowed like a department store Christmas tree.

“I ran into Simeon on Saturday evening on my way home from work. He looked … well, quite frankly, he looked haggard. So, whatever happened between the two of you, I’d wager that it’s hitting him just as hard as it has you, precious girl.”

My brain did a record scratch. “Uh … where exactly did you run into him?” I asked, my tone anything but the casual I’d been aiming for.

“I was walking home from the train station, a couple of blocks from the university. He looked like he hadn’t slept in about a month, and he seemed … confused. I mean, more so than a foreigner who doesn’t speak English as a first language should be, anyway.”

“By … by the university?” I could barely breathe. My ribs felt like they’d shrunk around my lungs.

“Yes, dear, my home is just near there. But he was acting very oddly. He kept asking about a letterbox. Only he called it something like … oh, what was it? A red receptacle. He’s quite adorable with his English, isn’t he? And he was very insistent that he personally had to be the one to post the letter, even though there is literally a letterbox outside my building.”

She tilted her head, regarding me thoughtfully. “Ezra also mentioned that you’d gotten some potentially life-changing news today … in the post.”

I tried to nod, but my neck wasn’t working. Nothing was working.

Sally took pity on me, leaning in to squeeze my arm. “Well. I’ll let you go, sweet. I’m sure you have much better things to be doing than nattering with an old sod like me on a Thursday evening!”

As she waltzed out, I could have sworn she was humming Two Become One.