After sending the text message, James Black finally set his mobile phone down, but he didn't keep it too far away, just within easy reach.
When he picked up his chopsticks again, the vegetables on the tabletop seemed to have become just a tad more appetizing.
Unaware next door, Jane Sampson, who had accidentally turned her phone on silent mode, neither heard Peter Gingery calling her nor saw the messages from James Black on WhatsApp.
By the time she and James Carter and Ms. Little finished their meal, she had no idea what time it was.
If it weren't for James Carter and Ms. Little needing to keep their schedule, Jane Sampson was sure they could have spent an entire afternoon chatting in the private room.
