A Life Beyond Us novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: A Normal Tuesday
We read Darcy's letter together at the kitchen table, at one in the morning, in our bathrobes.
It was a single page, folded in thirds.
"Maura. I'm not going to say I'm sorry, because you wouldn't believe it. I told the story because I wanted one of my own. I deleted every file this afternoon. My brother lives in Cleveland and has a spare room. I'm not coming back. D."
Hugh read it twice.
"Do you believe the part about the files?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. "She was proud. She'd want us to know she did it herself."
Tom turned the page over.
The back was blank.
He folded it along the creases and put it in the drawer where we kept the takeout menus.
"That's it," he said.
"That's it."
Hugh poured three glasses of milk, because the wine was gone, and we drank them standing at the counter.
Nobody said anything else about her, then or ever.
In March it snowed on the first day of the month, and the next morning the ground was soft.
We went out to the backyard at dawn, the three of us in boots and coats.
Tom carried a young maple over one shoulder, its roots wrapped in burlap.
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