“I’m fine here, Jake.”

“Okay,” he said. “Just checking.” She remembered what he’d been like immediately after her mother’s funeral, the way he’d taken control of her. He’d become a different man now that she didn’t love him, or trust him, anymore. Her indifference gave her the upper hand, a fact she decided to file away.

“Jake,” she said, as he was departing.

“Yeah?” he said, a hopeful look on his face.

“I’m going to look for a new job. And a new apartment.”

“Oh.”

“I thought I’d let you know. In advance.”

She gave her notice at Blethen’s Apothecary and got a job as an office assistant at a real estate company. She stopped taking classes, since she was working full-time, and rented a one-bedroom apartment in a stucco building not far from the real estate office. It was quiet in the apartment, and she liked it. She made simple meals, and watched television, and on the weekends she’d go swimming at the Y.

Coast Home Realty grew, relocating to a new, larger office in a strip mall off Route 1A. Alice coordinated the move, even working with Caroline, the big boss, to design the new office, and when the company was firmly established in their new plush surroundings, Caroline asked Alice if she ever thought about getting her real estate license. “I hate to lose you as our office manager, but you’d be a good agent, I just know it.”

Alice had never really considered this, partly because the real estate agents, at least the ones who made the most sales, all seemed to have big, vibrant personalities. Alice told Caroline that she didn’t think so, but Caroline insisted. “You’re the hardest worker I’ve ever had in here. It just seems a shame that we can’t get you making some fat commissions.”

So Alice got her license, and two months later sold her first property, a starter home for a young couple, both schoolteachers, who had moved down from Orono. She celebrated by getting a larger apartment and a new car. She began to spend more time with Chrissie Herrick, another Realtor at the agency, who’d gotten her license when her second kid began grade school. Chrissie, a talker, reminded Alice of Gina, but a Gina that had life all figured out. She was happily married to a dull and faithful man, and was basically content with her lot. Chrissie’s favorite activity was telling Alice how pretty she was, and how she wanted to set her up with some nice man.