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willingly entered into an incestuous relationship with him.
    ‘Are you okay?’ I ask.
    She sighs deeply, running her hand across her forehead. ‘I need to stop for a while.’
    ‘Of course. Can I get you anything?’
    It is ironic how our roles are reversed. I see that this is not lost on her as she gives me an amused smile.
    ‘I’ve never voiced this,’ she says, wrapping her arms around her body.
    ‘Yes,’ I agree. ‘But maybe you needed to?’
    She nods.
    ‘My life was very different then, as you can see. But I shan’t attempt to justify my actions, merely express the facts.’
    ‘We have both lived many lives; I’m not here to make any judgement.’
    My mobile phone rings suddenly in my pocket. It is a quirky tune, Black And Gold by a singer called Sam Sparro. Lilly put it on my phone because she loved the song. We’d danced to it one night in a hotel room in Rome, as the video played on MTV.
    ‘And now we are back in the present.’ Lucrezia laughs, breaking my momentary reverie.
    I smile at her while retrieving my phone from my pocket. It’s Lilly. She’ll be wondering where I am. We have barely been apart in over a year. I lied to her about where I was going. I stare at the screen as it rings.
    ‘Aren’t you going to answer?’
    I shake my head, unsure what to do. It stops ringing as I am about to press receive. I stare blankly at the missed call message.
    ‘Mmmm,’ Lucrezia smiles. ‘She’ll be wondering what you’re doing.’
    I stand and walk to the door. ‘Maybe I should come back later?’
    ‘Why not bring her?’ Lucrezia looks at me sincerely. ‘I’ve known about her all along, since her re-birth. I felt it.’
    I open my mouth to speak but cannot find words. Lilly is my secret, my lover, my companion. How do I discuss that with someone who amounts to my ex-lover, however briefly?
    ‘She doesn’t know about you,’ I say finally.
    ‘Ah.’
    I flounder, wondering what to do and my phone rings again, shaking me from my confusion. I answer quickly this time.
    ‘Hi.’
    ‘Hi,’ she answers uncertainly. ‘Is something wrong?’
    ‘No, my darling. I just missed your call, that’s all.’
    She doesn’t believe me. ‘Oh?’
    ‘Have you checked in for us yet?’ I ask, wondering if I sound too perky.
    ‘Yes. There now. Waiting for you.’ Her tone drops, and I respond immediately to the sexual urgency in her voice. ‘Have you dealt with the “business” you had to attend to yet? Only, like I said, I’m waiting.’ She hangs up, leaving me dangling, and I ache for her as always.
    I close my phone and turn to Lucrezia.
    ‘You have to go,’ she says.
    ‘Yes. But I need to know more. We have barely touched the surface of your story.’
    ‘True.’ She shivers. ‘But, it will be long in the telling, I feel.’
    I glance at my phone again, feeling the urge to turn it off, and sit again waiting patiently for her story to unfold.
    ‘But it can wait,’ Lucrezia continues. ‘Lovers often don’t like to.’
    I sit, making the decision. ‘I’m not ready to go yet. It will all be fine if I take my time. I’m not so insecure to think that she will leave me if I’m a few hours late.’
    Lucrezia laughs, then sits opposite me. ‘Send her a text to say you’ll be delayed then. That’s what they do in this century and it seems so acceptable, doesn’t it?’
    I smile. We understand each other so well and our mutual contempt for the manners of the modern world is just one small thing we share. We have a history together, after all. I suppose more than that, we are history. I switch off my phone.
    ‘I will stay a little longer if you feel you can continue.’
    ‘Good. But now it’s your turn. I would like to know about your life. I want to know about her.’
    ‘Lilly,’ I state.
    ‘A beautiful name,’ Lucrezia says and I meet her eyes. Eyes that are so like my lover’s that it makes my heart ache.
    ‘She is a lot like you.’
    ‘Will I meet her?’ Lucrezia