“It’ll be fine. Really… it’s okay. Lis­ten to me.” She shakes my shoul­der, gen­tly at first, then a bit rougher so that my neck joins the move­ment. “Stop snivel­ing. He’ll be back in a bit, just a few… before you can say Jim’s your uncle.”

So I stop snif­fling, take a deep breath, and set­tle in to wait for him.

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