came along because you asked beautifully enough.”
She stopped.
The words had surprised me by being the ones I meant.
“I’m afraid,” I admitted. “But I don’t want you doing all the work of getting us past that.”
For a moment, she looked at me as though she were trying to decide whether this was one more elaborate form of delay. Then I held out my hand for the list, and she gave it to me.
I folded it once.
“There are things we can’t finish today,” I said. “The
