#Leonie is a woman in her 40s, she could be your neighbor. After her divorce, she builds a new life with her three children. Her parents live nearby and her sister is expecting her second child. Her friend Ilse has relationship problems and her neighbor Mandy has dinner appointments of the good kind: Mandy cooks!

Actually, Leonie was furious with Erik. Oh, hell! What was he thinking? All three of her children upset! In principle, there was no reason for the children to think that this was a new girlfriend, she had understood from Julia that there had been no direct indications that it would be more than just someone, but the children had felt it all. This was different. This wasn't just anybody. Erik had behaved differently to this woman than he normally did, “childish” Julia described it. He had been giggling and flirting with this Suzanne, as she was apparently called. Her children had clearly felt that there was much more going on here. I suppose Erik thought he could do this without them knowing or something? They weren't retarded, that was obvious. She suddenly felt like sending Erik a peppery e-mail, but she also knew she had no leg to stand on for the time being. He was free to do what he wanted and although Leonie thought he was not at all convenient, he probably thought he did. They would only have a fight. Leonie decided to keep an eye on it and to ring the bell if it would make her children more difficult.

The next day at work, she reported to Judith about what happened. Judith agreed with her that it had not been convenient for Erik. “Maybe he thinks he'll be easier to introduce her as his girlfriend when she's been home a couple of times and so the kids know her a little bit,” said Judith. Leonie nodded. She had come up with something like that. Apparently Erik didn't realize that his children were not comfortable with it, or he was too in love to pick up the signals.

Erik in love, at least, maybe she was totally wrong. Involuntarily, Leonie recollected at the beginning of her relationship with Erik, when he came weekly with bunches of flowers and carried her on hands. She smiled. How happy she had been then! She, Leonie, who thought she was a wallflower and who thought there was no one who would like her the most, was dating! She had been nineteen when they were dating, Erik was four years older. She'd been in seventh heaven. Her daydream splashed apart like a bubble. In a hundredth second she traveled twenty years ahead in time and was back in the here and now. “You were far away, weren't you?” Judith laughed at her.


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