“We’re over, Nadia, but I still need you to sign for my new place—and tomorrow, when the bank comes, we need to look like we’re together.” Nadia stopped cutting the backing for Mrs. Bell’s portrait. Martin put a folded paper on her workbench. His coat was buttoned wrong. She noticed that before she understood the …
2 January The angel refused to fit in the box unless somebody took off her wings. “She’s not an angel without them,” Willa said. “She’s an angel on holiday,” Simon said. “That isn’t a thing.” “I stand corrected.” Maren sat on the floor with a length of silver ribbon caught around her wrist. The tree …
28 November The drawer contained a screwdriver, two old receipts, three buttons and a photograph Maren had forgotten was there. She took out the photograph first. Willa at three, holding a large wooden spoon with the concentration of a person about to conduct an orchestra. Maren smiled, set it beside the lamp and began clearing …
27 November — Evening By five o’clock the red door had become a drawbridge for a hedgehog who wasn’t allowed to get his feet wet. Maren watched a child lay it across the space between two low buildings, carefully turning the remade hinge until the panel rested flat. The imperfect painted edge faced the glass. …
27 November — Morning Maren’s name was on the glass before she was ready to stand beside it. She stopped outside the flagship at eight, breath clouding the corner of the window. Inside, the town shone with the early light she had once meant to reserve for the closing roof sequence. Now each little house …
25–26 November The bag Willa packed for Thanksgiving contained a book, a stone, one sock and no puppet. “You don’t need a bag for an afternoon,” Maren said. “I might.” “Then perhaps two socks.” “It’s for the cat.” Maren took her hand away from the bag. The cat puppet had acquired the sock as a …
24 November Anika’s film began with a boy’s hand taking the church apart. No face, no music. Just five fingers, a sleeve with a frayed cuff and the whole carefully arranged building coming undone. The pieces crossed the screen one frame at a time until the steeple lay on its side. Then a smaller hand …
22 November The museum’s offer arrived while Simon was trying to fit his pillow back into its bag. Maren read the first line standing in the hall. Then she sat down on the nearest available surface, which was the edge of the shoe cupboard. “Yes?” he said. “Yes.” For one second neither moved. Then he …
21 November “Will he be here when I wake up?” Willa asked. “Yes.” “Even if I wake up early?” “Yes.” Her daughter pressed the last piece of orange onto the end of her finger. Maren had explained that Simon was having supper with them, then staying in her room. She had supplied it as a …
19 November The wall was three-eighths of an inch too long, except when Maren used somebody else’s tape. She measured it a third time. Then she laid her yellow tape beside the steel rule, lining up the ends beneath the bright work lamp. At eighteen inches the little black marks had already drifted apart. “Oh, …
