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"That was a hard thing, with Bill But Kate will knohat to do"

"She always seeht if I worried about you?"

"I’ll be fine, really"

"I know you will But I’oodbyes Sara hts burned anywhere It had soenerators--a minor hiccup at the refinery, that was the official word

She found Hollis dozing in his reading chair, a kerosene lantern burning on the table and a book of inti on his belly The house, where they had lived for the past ten years, had been abandoned in the first wave of settle down Hollis had spent two years restoring it, in his off hours froe of Who would have thought it, this bear of a h the dusty shelves and reading to children? Yet that hat he loved

She hung her jacket in the closet and went to the kitchen to warm some water for tea The stove was still hot--Hollis always left it that way for her She waited for the kettle to boil, then poured the water through the strainer filled with herbs she’d taken from the canisters that stood in a neat line on the shelf above the sink, each one marked in Hollis’s hand: "lemon balm," "spearmint," "rosehips," and so on It was a librarian’s habit, Hollis said, to fetishize the smallest details Left to herself, Sara would have had to spend thirty

Hollis stirred as she entered the living rooily "What ti at the table "I don’t know Ten?"

"Guess I fell asleep there"

"The water’s hot I can ether at the end of the day

"No, I’ll get it"

He lu, which he placed on the table Rather than sit, he an, with gathering pressure, to work his thumbs into the ood," she moaned

He kneaded her neck for another minute, then cupped her shoulders anda series of pops and cracks

"Ouch"

"Just relax," Hollis said "God, you’re tight"

"You would be too, if you just gave physicals to a hundred kids"