Something lovely crossed her mind. She kept it for a moment.
On Her Way
Lena’s phone asked how her afternoon had gone. The woman in the bus window smiled instead of answering.
It took her a moment to recognise herself. She had been watching the shops pass, her cheek resting against her hand, when the message lit up on her lap.
How did you get on? Still coming tonight?
Her younger sister knew about the dentist. She did not know about the audition afterwards.
Lena had nearly mentioned it over breakfast, then decided she would rather go first. For most of the morning, the appointment card in her bag had seemed a perfectly good explanation for being out.
She typed, All fine. On my way home. See you at seven.
Then she opened another message and began, I also—
Her Name Again
The bus pulled away from a stop. A shopping bag rustled behind her, and warm air drifted from the vent beneath the window.
Lena looked at the two words on her screen.
An hour earlier, she had stood in a church hall holding a sheet of music with both hands. The pianist had asked whether she wanted to try the opening again.
“Yes, please,” she had said, rather too quickly.
The second time, she had reached the end without running out of breath. Afterwards, she had returned the music and started looking for the door.
“Lena?”
She had turned back.
“Thursday at half past seven. Can you make the first rehearsal?”
On the bus, she heard her name again, exactly as he had said it. Not a question about the form. Not a request to return a pencil.
Thursday. Half past seven.
She pressed her lips together, but the smile remained at the corners.
At Seven
Her sister would open the door with something in one hand. A wooden spoon, probably. She would ask about the dentist before Lena had taken off her coat.
Lena pictured putting her bag down and saying, “There was something else.”
She wanted to see what happened then.
Last month, when her sister had told her about a new job, Lena had been halfway through cutting a slice of cake. They had both forgotten the knife until the slice began to lean.
She deleted I also— and put the phone in her bag.
At the next stop, a man came down the aisle carrying a bunch of flowers wrapped in paper. Lena drew her knees aside to let him pass. He thanked her and sat farther back, leaving a brief scent of flowers behind him.
She settled into the warm seat again. There were still several stops before hers.
A Small Rehearsal
Lena tried the sentence silently.
“I’ve joined a choir.”
That made it sound as though she had simply walked in and hung up her coat.
“I went for an audition.”
Better. Her sister would look up at that.
She imagined the questions, the little pause before the congratulations, and then, quite without permission, a roomful of applause.
Her chin dipped. One hand began to move towards her waist.
She stopped halfway into a bow.
The seat in front was already close enough.
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