Chapter 24: The Key

On Saturday morning Roz's husband backed his truck into my driveway to take away the crib.

He did it without a speech, which was why I had asked him.

Cillian carried the box down the stairs.

I stood at the bottom with my hand on the newel post.

I watched it go out my front door and into the truck bed.

I let myself watch the whole way.

"Okay?" Cillian asked, coming back in.

"Okay," I said. "It's a spare room now."

"Do you want to start on the walls?"

"After lunch. I want to choose the color with Roz, and Roz is bringing a tray of lasagna and an opinion."

He laughed.

Shelby came down the hall with the blue suitcase.

She wore her camel coat, and her hair was combed.

She had a bus ticket to Tucson in her hand, where her sister lived.

"The lawyer says I can do the paperwork by phone," she said. "My sister's already cleaned the spare bed."

"You don't have to go."

"I do, I think. I need to be somewhere that nobody knows who I was last month."

She stood on the mat.

I had thought a great deal about what I would say to her.

In the end I said the shortest thing.

"Take care of the baby."

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