before I've even made

he second he speaks, low and unhurried, like he's got all

as a mistake," he sa

threat or a

se parcels are worth. You just knew I wa

title office, because he's not wrong and I hate that h

me what the

N

in it, which annoys me more than if he'd laughed at me outright. "Here's my counter, Ms. Sterling. I split the parcels with you. Two and t

d I agree

ke sure I don't have all four. There's a difference, and

ix hours ago I would have said nobody alive could read me that pre

I understand he's chosen every word of this sentence on purpose, "you'd know that two parcels facing the river road are worth

I'm too busy recalculating exactly

ast side's mine. And you tell me

word back at me, and hangs up before I can decide

ry Thursday, and watching him walk through my front doo

y he's kissed my cheek every Thursday for the last year. "Your

bout a lot of thi

asy warmth he just gave me, and I watch it happen this time instead of just living inside it - the exact half-second too long his

s anyone's counting. I've

attention in it, real warmth, the kind of warmth that used to make me think I cou

he wedding," I say, an

ow find unbearable to look at directly, and reaches over to squeeze my hand, and under the tab

own at it. Ju

l and private that she thinks nobo

m exactly buil

ided the day is officially over. She's on the back terrace, phone pressed to her ear, and she doesn't hear the door behind her because she's not expecting anyone to be listening

, before I died once and

does when she's nervous and thinks no one can see it. "I told you, the timeline's fine, we just need the board vote to

st

un on when something's gone wrong in a room. But she turns around, phone still pressed to her ear, and she sees me stan

phone, very quietly, and hangs up befo

r a second that stretches out

ou been standing

u talk about pulling files before

hing that settles into a smile so practiced I almost believe it, almost the way I

uff. You know how Dad gets about the merger, everyb

"That's what you s

goes very still, the way water goes still right before

," she says. "Go to bed,

re feet, listening to her footsteps recede up the stairs, thinking about four warehouses on a stretch of road nobody in this