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“Don’t be silly It’s just a game ” Her voice barely cracked, but she knew it betrayed her

There was a pause before he said, “I’ll go for a run and meet you at Zach’s ”

“You run too much,” she said

He shrugged It was his way of dealing with the loss He ran; he worked

“See you later,” she said finally She stayed in the shower until she heard hi her hair By the tie capris and a soft cotton T-shirt, she was in control

of her eain

Grief was like that these days: a stealth bo forward, and then soo, when it had all been fresh, she could spend days off the path, in a gray world where nothing was stable Now, she could right herself most of the time

That was progress

She started to leave the bathroom and remembered halfway to the door that she hadn’t brushed her teeth or put on makeup

She went back and brushed her teeth but decided to forgo theleft herout than a day with Grace and Zach It took sopresent that she came home exhausted

She went to her car, a black hybrid SUV, s out of the garage, she executed a tight three-point turn and drove up the gravel driveway, noticing the wildness of their land Everything had grown in the past few years; blackberry bushes cli

She turned onto the main road and drove to Zach’s house

As always, walking into this cabin was a little like going back in tiotten for their first apartment; the chairs were from the year they’d had the twins They’d stored all of their old furniture and outdated trinkets for their kids They used to say jokingly, with twoout, we’ll need to save it all

Zach was raising his daughter and going to med school in a house that mirrored the one in which she and Miles had done all the sas

“Anyone here?” she called out