She didn’t separate the colors, just separated the clothes randomly into two machines and started them with extra soap. The clothes smelled a little musky. Back upstairs she opened her bedroom window and Adam’s, put sheets on both of their beds, made them up with the pillows and everything, tucked a stuffed animal under the sheets on Adam’s bed, picked up his toys from the floor and put them in his bin. She hung up the clothes she’d decided weren’t dirty. She took the bras from the tub and threw them into the hallway. She went and got the cleaner and the paper towels and the kitchen sponge and removed the film of hair and lint from the bathroom and polished the surfaces as well as she could. Then she dried the bathroom a little with paper towels, filled the sink with cold water and hand soap and submerged her bras in it. She turned the fan on in the bathroom, threw away the paper towels, and dusted the surfaces in her room and Adam’s, then she ran the vacuum again.

By then it was time to change the laundry.

She came back upstairs, rinsed her bras and hung them over the shower rod. She watered the two dry-looking plants in the kitchen and put the hot, dull-smelling plates back into the cabinets. The sun was going down, and she didn’t want to know where the dog was, not yet, not until everything was in place and she could enjoy it. She got an old blanket, folded it and put it by the couch.

“That’s Crispy’s bed for now.”

She got hair bands and used them to hold the cabinets closed, like in Emily’s kitchen.

There was no juice in the refrigerator. She needed to go shopping.

She sat down next to Adam and they both called, “Crispy,” and Crispy walked up to them slowly, wagging her tail fast and slow at alternating speeds.

“Crispy!”

Wag . . . wag . . . wagwagwag.

“Good dog, come here, Crispy!”

They all played for a minute, then Crispy sat on her bed. Jillian put away the laundry and made a grocery list and when she looked over at Adam and Crispy watching tv together, she thought she was going to start crying, she was so close to being able to sit with them and relax.

“Will you be a good girl?” asked Jillian.

Crispy looked from side to side.

“We’ll be right back, ok? Will you be a good girl?”

In the car, Jillian said, “We’ll need to get her a crate for when I’m at work, and I think she needs some fetch toys, but we can use an old sock for now. Tie it in a knot. We can use peanut butter for treats, too, to save money for now.”

Just talking out loud.

“What movie do you want to watch tonight, Adam?”