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She watches me with the same expression she wore in the car. Worried, but unwilling to make it worse by wrestling me.

“All right.”

Relief and panic arrive together. Unpleasant roommates.

Jessica squeezes my hand, then lets go. “I’ll come back by eight.”

“Jessica.”

“Fine. Nine. But I’m bringing coffee, and you’re not allowed to complain about what kind.”

“I would never.”

“You would.”

At the front door, she puts her sandals back on. She turns to face me in the foyer. For one awful second, I think she might hug me. Or worse, ask permission to hug me.

She does neither. She touches my cheek with the backs of her fingers, quick and light.

“Lock the door behind me,” she says.

“I know how doors work.”

“Not today, you don’t.”

I cannot argue with that.

I stay in the foyer long enough for the house to admit what it is now.

There are rooms full of furniture, drawers with too many batteries and keys that no longer belong to anything. Books Renny bought because the covers looked impressive and then used as coasters.

Empty.

I walk back through the hallway. My shoes sound too loud on the floor. At the kitchen island, my phone lights up again. This time I see a name before the screen goes dark.

Landy.

I look at the phone until the light fades, then turn it over.

Not tonight.

I look toward the stairs.

They rise from the front hall in a graceful curve Renny insisted was the reason we bought the house, though I remember it differently. I remember him standing in the kitchen with the realtor, already talking about parties. I remember walking upstairs alone and finding the primary bedroom full of late-afternoon light. I remember thinking, This could be quiet.

One hand on the banister. One step, then another.

At the top, the hallway is darker than it should be. The bedroom door stands open at the far end.

I can see the corner of the bed from here. That’s already too much.

“All right,” I say.

The words barely carry. I’m not sure who I’m speaking to.

“All right,” I say again, though nothing is.

I turn around before the room can respond.