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When Jude had first folded under Miles’s relentless pressure to “get help” and “see so of psychiatrists and therapists and counselors At first her sole criterion had been their ability to dispense prescription drugs In time, she’d weeded out the touchy-feely purveyors of hope and the idiots who told her boldly that soain The ot up and left

By 2005, only Harriet Bloom remained—Harriet, who rarely s of tragedy And she could prescribe drugs

“What?” Jude said again, shivering

“We both knohat day it is ”

Jude wanted to make a smart comeback, but she couldn’t All she could do was nod

“Did you sleep last night?”

She shook her head “Miles held me, but I pushed him away ”

“You didn’t want comfort ”

“What good is it?”

“Are you going to do anything to mark the anniversary?”

The question ood, better than this free-falling despair “Like send balloons up to her? Or sit by that granite stone in the grass where her body is? Or uests over and celebrate her life … which is over ”

“Sos ”

“Yeah Well I don’t ”

“As I’ve said before, you don’t want co on her notepad “Why do you keep cohtly we can hardly ress ”

“I cos You know that ”