Helen remembered believing him because believing him allowed her to sleep.
“Dad said you didn’t need more worry,” Ryan said.
“And you agreed.”
“I was ashamed.”
She glanced at the breakfast dishes.
“When did the shame turn into this?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
There was a knock at the back door.
Ruth stood behind the glass with a small lemon cake balanced in both hands. She had worked beside Helen at the hospital laundry for twenty-three years. She knew how Helen took her coffee and which shoulder ached when rain was coming.
She also knew about the suitcase.
Helen opened the door.
Ruth’s eyes moved from the untouched breakfast to Ryan’s face, then to the letter in his hand.
“I can wait in the car,” she said.
“No. Come in.”
Ryan laid the letter facedown.
“This is a family discussion.”
Ruth remained on the threshold.
Helen took the cake from her.
“She is my family, too.”
Ruth entered quietly. She did not demand an explanation or stand between them. She pulled out a chair and sat, leaving Helen room to decide what happened next.
That small courtesy nearly undid her.
Ryan noticed the cake.
“You told her I forgot.”
“I told her I was turning seventy.”
He looked at the unsigned card still in his other hand. Slowly, he placed it on the table.
Helen had bought it herself at the pharmacy two days earlier because the painted sunflowers reminded her of Arthur’s garden. Inside, there was enough blank space for every word she had hoped someone might write.
Ryan touched its corner.
“I was going to do something tonight.”
Helen did not answer.
Ruth folded her hands in her lap.
At last Ryan pulled out his phone.
“I’ll call the property office. There has to be a way to stop this.”
“You may call them,” Helen said. “They’ll explain your options.”
“You’re really going through with it?”
“Yes.”
He turned toward the window, phone raised, then stopped.
“What happens to me?”
It was the question that had governed Helen’s life for so long she almost answered automatically.
Instead, she sat down.
“You have a salary. You have a car. You have time to find a room while you look for an apartment.”
