Chapter 50: Preparing for the Party

She got home to find that Gabriel had taken Deborah out. She knew that he will have taken her to their friends' house where they had planned that she would stay till she got back from the party. She did not know what she could have done without Gabriel. She hated hiding her daughter away like that but the party was not really for kids, though apart from obvious reasons, she still would have taken her there so that her former colleagues could see her but she dared not. The telephone was ringing, bringing her back to the present to notice that the room had darkened around her. There was only the orange glare of the street lights, softening the furnitures into unknown shadows. She picked up the telephone, still lost in memory, her hands shaking in case it was Bryan, it wasn't. 'How about dinner tonight?' Oliver's voice travelled down the line, making her jump. 'Oliver...' she was confused for a moment before the invitation sank in. 'Sharon, are you okay?' 'Yes,yes, of course', she snapped