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An uncoure out what to say She shifted nervously from side to side “I’msorry about Kathy ”

He seemed to fade a little beneath the words “Yeah,” he answered “So am I ”

“I kno much you loved her ”

He looked as if he were going to say so, and she waited, poised forward, but in the end he said nothing, just cocked his head and swung the door open wider

She followed hihts on, no fire in the fireplace—and there was a faint musty smell in the air

Soht erupted froht that for aat all Then her eyes adjusted

The living room looked like someone had dropped a bo beside the sofa, a drop of booze puddled at its mouth; open pizza boxes littered the floor; clothes lay in heaps and on chairbacks A cru across the television screen

“I don’t seem to spend much time at ho down, he grabbed a faded flannel shirt from the floor and put it on

She waited for hilanced around The sprawling living rooe brick fireplace, blackened by age and smoke It looked as if there hadn’t been a fire in the hearth in a long, long time The few bits and pieces of furniture—a faded brown leather sofa, a tree-trunk end table, a morris chair—were scattered haphazardly around the roo tissue-thin coats of dust A stone archway led into a for room, where Annie could see an oval maple table and four scattered chairs, their seats cushioned by red and white ginghareen door led to the kitchen To the left, an oak staircase hugged the brightly wallpapered wall and led to a darkened second floor

Annie felt Nick’s gaze on her Nervously, she picked an invisible lint ball fro to say “I hear you have a daughter ”

Slowly, he nodded “Izzy Isabella She’s six ”

Annie clasped her hands together to keep froraph on the h the rubble on the floor and touched the photo “The grueso “I can’t remember this one”

Lost in her own uely heard him pad out of the room A moment later, he was back

He came up behind her, so close she could feel the warmth of his breath on the back of her neck “Would you like a drink?”

She turned away fro a bottle of wine and two glasses For a second, it startled her, then she relass of as the polite way to entertain a guest “A drink would be great Where’s your daughter? Can I meet her?”