The booklet and the newsletter went in the bottom drawer of the hall table, with the paid bills and Christmas cards from last year. I started thinking about getting another dog. I bought patterns and fabric at the store to make summer clothes for the children. It would give me something to do.

I went to bed on the Friday of the second week while Jim was still watching TV. But when I came out of the bathroom, still wrapped in a towel, he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

‘I miss you, Sarah.’

‘I know. I’m trying. It’s hard to get over disappointment.’

‘Maybe you shouldn’t have to.’ He sighed.

Neither of us said anything for a moment and I realised I was holding my breath.

‘I’ve always known how smart you are. And I can tell how much you want this. It won’t be easy, but I hate to be the one who doesn’t let you try.’

With a gasp I let go of the breath I’d been holding and embraced him, my towel falling to the floor. Neither of us minded one bit.

•

I had never gone to college so I needed to do that first, a pre-vet program at Cornell University to give me a solid base in biology, chemistry and mathematics. For my admissions interview I sat across the desk from a pre-vet adviser, a middle-aged man with thinning blond hair and the broken capillaries of a drinker on his cheeks and nose. He didn’t look at me but at the papers on his desk.

‘The problem with vet school,’ he said, ‘is that they don’t really take girls. I don’t want you to waste your time doing pre-vet when you won’t get in.’

‘But there are two women in the graduating class this year,’ I replied. I’d done my research. I was sweating in my smartest skirt and jacket, the pile of papers which he hadn’t even asked to see threatening to spill from my lap.

‘They graduated top of the class in pre-vet.’

‘What’s to say I won’t?’

He shrugged and stood. ‘I’d suggest you reapply for a different program. What else interests you? Music? Books? Art? We have a nice art appreciation course.’

The interview was over. I went home convinced I would not get in, but the following week I got my acceptance in the mail. I would do pre-vet, and I was more determined than ever to do well.