The afternoons are the point. Not the mornings, which are for other people, and not the evenings, which arrange themselves. The stretch between two and six, when nothing is expected of you.
We ate for three hours. Someone's cousin appeared with a scooter. Nobody had planned anything and nobody minded.
I have started dressing for those hours specifically — a little more than you need, on a day that does not require it. It is not showing off. It is treating an ordinary Tuesday as though it counts, which it does.
Soraya
