Two Women Walk into a Bar

The new items she had bought were added to the rest and belonged to her, unlike Dad’s possessions, which were expendable. The priest who buried him mentioned this in his sermon, he said that you have to ground your gaze, ground yourself in the world, by which he meant that my father had not done this, and he was absolutely right. But it was several

She draws in her breath: a husband who groomed her as a fourteen-year-old child; a narcissistic mother; two problematic children; and brushes with social services. But the compelling things feel precious somehow, half-formed and delicate, not yet ready for the judgment of her husband.

We climbed the stairs to Mabel's room and she shut the door.

"So was he right?" she asked me. "Are you the kind of person who seeks out grief? Or do you just like that book?"

"I don't know," I told her. "I don't think I'm that kind of person."

b "I don't either," she said. "But it was an interesti

You spend too much time out here; it’s one of your escape hatches. Without admitting it, you’ve been building a little collection of these over the last few months—ever since around the time you turned forty-four. Maybe they’re starting to get out of hand. You’ve always been close with your best friend, Victoria, but suddenly you’re on the phone ev