He looked at the boxes.
“I don’t know.”
It was the first answer she believed without effort.
Downstairs, he had packed the graduation photograph.
Ruth noticed its pale rectangle on the wall.
“You can keep that,” she told him.
“I know.”
His voice broke on the second word.
She did not reach for him. Comfort had become so automatic between them that both needed to learn what happened when she did not supply it.
A buyer made an offer three weeks later.
The sale closed after Daniel moved into a one-bedroom apartment near his office. The debts remained his. The money from the house went into Ruth’s account.
When the attorney confirmed the transfer, she sat very still.
Her son could never again present that property as his own. His imagined collateral, his impressive dining room, and the story of himself as her provider were gone.
Ruth bought a small condominium with an elevator and windows facing a courtyard.
At the furniture store, she stopped before a round oak dining table.
The salesperson asked how many people she usually entertained.
“Not many lately,” Ruth said.
She bought four chairs anyway.
On moving day, her neighbor Evelyn brought sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper. They ate sitting on unopened boxes while afternoon light spread across the floor.
“Which room is your son having?” Evelyn asked casually.
Ruth looked toward the second bedroom.
“That’s my sewing room.”
The pleasure of saying it surprised her.
Daniel called that night.
“Did everything arrive?”
“Yes.”
“Do you need anything?”
She considered the question instead of answering by habit.
“The curtain rods need putting up.”
“I can come Saturday.”
“Two o’clock,” she said. “I have plans in the morning.”
He arrived at one fifty-five with tools and no flowers.
They worked quietly. Once, he asked where she wanted a bracket, and she told him twice because he listened the first time but wanted to be certain.
When he finished, he swept up the plaster dust.
Then he stood beside the round table.
“I need to apologize properly.”
Ruth remained seated.
“Go ahead.”
He pulled out a chair but waited until she nodded before sitting.
“I invited you because Martin asked about meeting you. I thought you would wear something different.”
