Friends, Lovers, Chocolate

One in the series of Isabel Dalhousie novels by Alexander McCall Smith:

Isabel had firm views on moral proximity and the obligations it created.  We cannot choose the situations in which we become involved in this life; we are caught up in them whether we like it or not.  If one encounters the need of another, because of who one happens to be, or where one happens to find oneself, and one is in a position to help, then one should do so.  It was as simple as that.