if I can do this.”
“You don’t have to know tonight.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
I stared into my tea.
“I thought my life was over.”
Daniel sat across from me.
“Maybe the life you were surviving is over.”
“That doesn’t sound much better.”
“It can be.”
The fire crackled softly.
I thought of my mother’s letter, Samuel waiting outside, Claire’s photograph, Emma’s arms around my neck, and the apartment I had not yet seen.
A new life did not arrive like a miracle.
It arrived as
