I wanted to do something that didn’t involve a phone or answering a question.”
“Does it help?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes I spend an hour failing at a bowl.”
“And that’s relaxing?”
“Oddly, yes.”
She set down the cup carefully.
“At work, there’s always another thing to finish. Clay doesn’t care if you’re efficient.”
I watched her look at the table.
For the first time that morning, I felt that I was seeing a door she had opened rather than a story she had prepared.
Near the fountain, we sat on a
