Paul’s last box had lived under the hall table for nine weeks. It held a desk lamp, a pair of winter gloves, three folders of tax papers and a small wooden game board with one corner repaired in a way that made the repair more visible than the break. Nora had dusted around it so …
What She Was Told The man fitting the temporary support arrived with a flask, two younger men and no interest in my marriage. I could have kissed him for that. They worked in the cleared end bay while Nina and I made table pieces for a company lunch. By midday the work had been checked, …
Lucy asked for the second call on Saturday evening, after she came home from the game shop with Paul carrying a small box of cards neither of them quite understood. Their first Saturday plan had remained tentative around Paul’s shifts, and work had made him postpone the confirmed Sunday visit in May. This time he …
By the next afternoon, the written acceptance and deposit were in. I printed the confirmation and pinned it above the desk. There was nothing beautiful about it. I enjoyed looking at it more than the roses I’d arranged that morning. Ruth waited until Nina had gone to buy supplies before asking if we could talk. …
Nora slept through two calls from an unknown number on Thursday morning. She had come off Wednesday night’s shift at six, eaten toast standing at the sink, and gone to bed with the phone facedown. When she woke at noon, neither caller had left a message. The personnel office’s number was saved in her contacts. …
Outside, the morning had warmed. We walked along the north side, where the garden narrowed between the conservatory and a clipped hedge. Adam took off his jacket and hooked it over his arm. Beneath it he wore a dark green shirt with the sleeves folded back. His forearms were lightly scratched. I looked at the …
Sam called Friday afternoon while Nora was standing in the grocery aisle choosing between two brands of noodles Lucy had declared identical until Nora bought the wrong one. She put both packets in her cart and answered. “Ben has the inspection time,” Sam said. “Five to eight Saturday. They need him there for the wiring …
Eight Weeks Ruth’s spare bed had an opinion about movement. Every time I turned over, it announced it to the house. At five in the morning I gave up, lay on my back and listened to a pigeon throwing itself at the gutter. There were tulips on the dressing table, tulips on the windowsill and …
Lucy moved the kitchen laptop three inches to the left at three fifty-two. The refrigerator disappeared from the camera frame; the plain wall took its place. She moved it back one inch. Now the top of the fruit bowl showed, which she said made the house look as if people actually lived there. Nora held …
“I want a divorce, Elena. But I need you to stay until she learns how to perform your duties.” I had my thumb inside the sleeve of a cardigan that would never fit anyone I knew. My mother had knitted it in cream wool, refusing to wait until we could tell her whether we were …
