I notice the intensity in Ben’s eyes and wonder whether I’m wrong. Maybe he doesn’t want to reassure Miranda about her father. Maybe he wants to tell her that she still looks pretty and young. But he can’t. Ordinary person convention is quite clear on this point. A man cannot comfort an upset woman if the upset woman’s husband is in close proximity to the aforementioned upset woman. Even in this messed-up version of real life where half the people in the room don’t know what planet they’re on, ordinary person convention prevails.
