She nudged my hand again.
I looked back up at the house.
She waited until I was ready to speak again.
She was good like that.
I said, “I need to go inside.”
I said, “I want you to go with me.”
I said, “And when we come back out, I’ll want to hear your voice.”
I said, “Because it’s time. For both of us.”
She followed me into the house.
ROBBIE HAD somehow removed the stain from the wood where she’d died.
It looked like it always had.
In my room, things were mostly the same.
I trailed my fingers along my bookshelf.
I pulled out the Buick shop manual she’d given me on my birthday a long time ago.
Inside was a card.
What do you call a lost wolf?
A where-wolf!
This year will be better.
Love, Mom
I didn’t know if I was dreaming or awake.
I put it back and wondered if I had soap bubbles on my ear.
Elizabeth watched and waited, never leaving my side.
I cried. Just a little. A few tears that I wiped away with the back of my hand.
I stood outside her door, hand on the doorknob.
I had to gather all my courage. I’d faced down Omegas. Osmond. Richard.
But this was harder.
Finally, finally, I opened the door.
It smelled like her. But then I knew it would.
It was faded, but it was there.
Motes of dust caught the sun.