It was James' first day at his new school as the double scholarship boy. He wore the typical private school boy academic uniform for junior students: summer short, summer shirt, tie, cap, polished black shoes and socks He also had other various uniforms including for sports and for the forthcoming winter.

As expected, Fanny had indulged in her love of shopping and bought every school uniform memorabilia the uniform shop had available for James. She also had one of those school stickers on the back of their car proudly boasting which school their grandson attended.

James had grown taller during Lizzy's absence and she was proud of her young man. Last night she had a good chat to him about his attendance at the new school.

"Mum, what if the other boys dislike me and I can't make new friends?" He asked worryingly.

Lizzy smiled and reassured him "It will always take awhile to form real and genuine friendships but once you form them, I'm sure it will be easier. And you're still keeping in touch with your old friends?"

James nodded. His friends had stayed over for a week at the beach house during the summer once John and Fanny left Gloucester for the coastal breeze to address the sweltering heat of an inland Australian country summer.

There, at the beach, James's friends promised each other to be friends for life.

"My dearest darling, if you ever find things difficult, please always let me know but you have to try things at least once." She said and continued, "Anytime you want to leave, just let me know. I won't force you to stay at that school if you don't like it. I just want you to experience it and try it once."

"Yes mum. I promise I will try everything at least once."

This had become their family philosophy.

John overheard her concerns and spoke to James, "James, if there are any awful boys at the school, let your grandmother know. She has a bottomless capacity of terrifying people. Including schoolboys."

At this they all laughed.

XXX

At the gates of James's new school, they took first day photos and hugged and wished James well on his new start.

They also agreed that he'd stay with her parents during the week to save on the commute. For Lizzy, this meant doing the cross-city commute but she found the ferry ride from Parramatta to the Quay and back again a good way to de-stress from the problems of her working day. So, unwittingly Lizzy found herself moving back to her parents' place during the week, and weekends at their two-bedder.

XXX

Lizzy threw herself at work once she returned from leave. She had fantastic data and photos, great connections and she knew she'd produce a brilliant report.

She worked with her colleague Mark on his English sustainability projects, and combined they provided to Bob a useful comparative report on renewable initiatives.

Work kept her sanity and away from the insanity and turbulence of her personal life.

XXX

The principal moments when she'd remember Darcy was at the fencing club. There were other odd moments too such as when she'd attend the opera or see some food item they once shared.

Distance and time, she thought, were always useful parameters to reframe and rationalise events and objectively see for what they were.

She appreciated Darcy's profound help in Scotland and while she began to enjoy his company towards the end of her trip, there were too many inconsistencies and instabilities with whatever relationship form she thought they had.

She could not read him and she decided to stop second guessing what he actually felt. There were too many missed and mixed messages, mixed signals, mixed everything!

So Lizzy went back to her default attitude which was to judge people on their actions, not words. She remembered what he said to her in the car from Skye - that he enjoyed her company. But after that first date, everything seemed incomprehensible and confounding.

He was hot and cold to her - one minute keen, then the next minute he was in New York incommunicado.

Lizzy never heard back from him after her text at the airport. She thought now that that was very typical of him. He would message out of the blue and he would abruptly cut off the communication whenever and however he felt like it. Lizzy resolved not to engage in this confusing behaviour any longer. She would be civil and polite.

She hoped he was well, whatever he was doing and wherever he was located. She remained Charles' sister-in-law and perhaps, she reasoned, that was probably the best place for her in his life and vice versa. There were no expectations as a result, just a tenuous unintended connection.

She would never belong to his world - she despised his world of parochial, petty and privileged people. It explained, in a way, why he had behaved the way he did the first time she had met him. Surrounded by nasty people, it wasn't surprising then that he came across as nasty as well. The company he kept spoke volumes of their behaviour - and his, she suspected.

She exhaled a long deep breath.

She was glad to be back in Sydney, away from the confusing feelings Darcy had provoked in her.