palm. There was a small worn place on the underside of the band. I had looked at that ring for most of my adult life without noticing it.
I sat outside Anna’s house for nearly an hour.
When she opened the door, I saw the girl I remembered in the way she tilted her head, though her hair was silver now and she wore reading glasses on a cord.
Then she looked directly at me.
Something about her eyes caught me off guard. They felt familiar in a more recent, ordinary way, and I couldn’t work out why.
“Come in, Walter.”
We sat at her kitchen table. She poured coffee, spilling a little into my saucer.
“I’m sorry about Carol,” she said.
“Thank you.”
I waited while she folded a paper towel and wiped the spill.
“Do you know why she sent me here?”
Anna sat down slowly.
“I think
