It put her in the right frame of mind, even though he wouldn’t be able to see her. The phone rang for a good twenty seconds, and Rosie thought she might get away with just leaving a message. But then a slightly breathless voice answered. ‘Hello, Justin? It’s Rosie here.’ ‘Oh.’ Rosie waited for him to go on, but he didn’t. ‘I hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time?’ she said. ‘No, it’s fine. I was just getting some work done.’ ‘On Saturday morning? That’s very dedicated.’ ‘Well.’ Again Rosie expected more, but didn’t get it. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt,’ she said. ‘It’s fine.’ Rosie couldn’t read his tone, even over the landline, which she liked to use for socially or emotionally fraught conversations, because it was easier to hear the inflections in people’s voices. His replies seemed terse, though. It was almost as if he was blaming her for what had happened. No, that was ridiculous, of course.
