“Stand here, please, James.” She pointed to the floor beside the chair. She then took her own jacket off, together with her wristwatch. Sitting on the chair, she began to roll her right sleeve up.
I stepped forward, placed my hand briefly on her knee and bent forward I felt so embarrassed, and the wait was awful.
“Pass me back your hand, James.” I obeyed, and was surprised at how soft and warm Mrs Hamilton’s hand was as she took mine.
“You may not feel lucky for the next few minutes, James, but considering you are not on the receiving end of six of the best, you should be grateful for small mercies. You may cry all you want – but I intend to make sure you think twice before going out of bounds again!”