“Does he live close?”

“Pretty close, we’re both homebodies. He’s traveled more than I have, I haven’t even been to San Diego.” She pulled a cat toy out of a drawer and starting playing with Phil. “One time he and I were supposed to drive to Mexico, like this fun, spontaneous thing, right?”

“Yes,” said Laura, beginning to like Nina more and more. She might be small and cute, but there was no reason to get mad about it.

“Well, we made it as far south as Carlsbad, which is coincidentally the home of Legoland, and ended up spending the weekend there instead. It was pretty awesome.” She giggled.

Laura grinned. “You spent a romantic weekend building things out of Lego?”

“I don’t think anything was actually completed, but it was fun.” Nina looked at her phone. “It’s after nine, I guess we better call it a day.”

“Wait, you promised to work on your hand.”

“I did,” said Nina calmly. “I scooped ice cream earlier and read for an hour at a good clip, and I turned each page twice.”

Laura clicked her tongue. “Will you let me stretch your hand, at least? I learned how to do it for myself when I was recovering, and I promise it’ll feel good.”

Nina rolled her eyes but held out her hand. Laura shimmied over on the rug and took hold of it in both of hers, gently stretching and massaging. Inside her head she was listing the bones and muscles of this most elegant of small machines, visualizing the diagrams and charts she’d already spent hours looking at. The human body never failed to astound her; the intricate interdependence of structures hard and soft, the tension and torque of fascia and sinew.

Laura’s hair slid forward as she bent over Nina’s hand. “You don’t need to spend hours on it, you simply need to be consistent.” She interlaced her fingers with Nina’s and spread them apart. “You’ll be glad you did, I promise.”

Nina looked dubious. “My wrist feels fine, honestly.”

Laura looked up at her and went back to stretching. “Well, great, don’t you want it to stay that way?”