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"Do you realize I’ve never had a proper job?" she cried

Charles aiarden and snapped a picture of Joanna, as standing near the pool, see board "Did I tell you I found the cleaning lady who found Dad?" Charles said after a uard "What?"

"I ran into the guard from Dad’s office who called the ambulance at this bar down the street He toldin another building I tried to look for her after Dad died, but no one would tell me where she was"

"You did?" Sylvie asked He had never told her this

Charles ducked his head, shrugging it off "So ent to her building, and the guard pointed her out to h the lobby at the exact tih the double doors--it was like, I don’t know, fate I was going to say soh Caring"

"Well," Sylvie said unco in Charles Even though he would never get into it, even though he ht not have been able to define it for hireat depths for his father "She see," Charles repeated

S ylvie took a deep breath and took photos at her first wedding job She and Tabitha, a round, chatty woman who i at the family’s fars that were simple lunches in people’s backyards Ones that were traditional, where the family prayed before the meal and the bride hite without irony There was one that wasinto an enor for pictures with little plastic shot glasses raised, all of the one another’s hair At a feeddings she photographed, the wedded couple didn’t seee quite possibly forced Those were always the hardest to do; when sorting through their ies, she wished she kne to use Photoshop If she could create se their ot to her She cried as the bride walked down the aisle with her father; she encouraged single girls to rush to the front and catch the bouquet She found herself wishing that she and Ja off to Italy and gettingtheir fas for James that she had to duck into the bathrooainst the cool, tiled walls So her new job She wondered what James would think of her if he suddenly walked back into her life, robustly alive Would he think she’d changed? Would he recognize her?

And ould Scott say, if, or when, he caed She wondered if soes she’d made ith hi she worked, she woke up and realized that the heaviness in the base of her stomach had lifted She folded James’s old clothes and sent theht new sheets and pillows for her bed She drove to Philadelphia and walked to Jeweler’s Row, dropping her ring onto the counter of the first store she cae Hasidic ht and called everyone else on the street trying to come up with an accurate price She enjoyed the anony rid of soe and pretty

Then she went into James’s old office and put all of his books in boxes She called an antiques dealer to appraise Janer had made them, so they were probably worth soled at her grandfather’s ites on the walls It wasn’t the first time so calculations in his head, already counting the randfather’s, but soan to turn She called an appraiser named Florence, who had known her parents and had helped Sylvie sell off sos when both of the notes in a book, pressing her pencil eraser to her lips She ran her fingers over his books and paintings She opened drawers in the kitchen and smiled at their old dishes and silverware There was no point inup as here, Florence concluded It all orthhow preserved this place is," Florence said with a sigh when Sylvie saw her out "Your grandfather would be very proud"

After Florence left, Sylvie sat in the eh she was saying her good-byes now As she heaved another sigh, she sensed a presence behind her and turned The light shimmered and shifted, and suddenly he was there, really there, all cigar s eyes

"Hello, Charlie Roderick," Sylvie whispered He lingered there, light waves and ozone, watching her Tears ca since she’d said his na She hoped he would forgive her, too But before she could ask hi industry people again and again-- Frankie-the-DJ, who line-danced with the crowd, Hattie-the-florist who drove a big van painted yellow and black like a bu quartet, made up of three Asian women and a tall, reedy black man who alore three-piece suits He waved at her every ti in Elverson, Sylvie waved back His name was Desmond, and he lived in Villanova His wife had died fifteen years ago of pancreatic cancer, and he’d been alone ever since His voice was just what she expected--deep and resonant Years ago she would’ve shied away froht self-coo The first time Sylvie danced with Dess when the band was playing their last song, she fully understood how different she’d becohts By the tio, too She hadn’t expected to work a wedding that long weekend, but Tabitha called her and said that a photographer needed an ehad just called in a panic Can you run out and get filital

Sylvie threw on soo to the caotten to know, but to the photo shop next to the new Target that had sprung up near her house

Inside the shop sazing blankly out theat the faet "Oh," said the person in front of her in line "Well, hello"

It took ato her She turned and then pressed her fingers to her throat Warren Givens didn’t look nearly as ragged as she remembered His hair was co a clean, snazzy green Windbreaker and crisp dark jeans "H-hi," she stammered, her chest seized with apprehension She hadn’t seen hined

"How are you?" Warren asked His eyes were still that watery blue