“Say I love Tia,” she told Kiki, trying to teach the bird a new phrase.

Kiki eyed her dubiously, as though she wasn’t interested in expanding her speaking repertoire.

Tia held up a pumpkin seed. “I love Tia.”

Kiki didn’t mimic her, but she did lean forward and steal the pumpkin seed before Tia could pull it away.

“Hey, what a cheat!” Tia cried out and actually laughed, probably for the first time since the accident.

She kept trying to train Kiki, thinking it would be funny for Maxi to hear his pet pay her homage long after she was gone, but after another hour, she grew tired of the effort. She didn’t seem to be making any progress, so she decided to leave.

She was feeling better, but she still didn’t want to run into Seth. She was afraid he’d say or do something to make her mad again—or remind her of the things she’d been able to forget in the past hour. Over all, she could dub this a good night, by current standards, and she wanted to cling to that incremental improvement for as long as possible.

Besides, even though going without her bandages was as liberating as he’d said it would be, she preferred he not see her face again so soon. She needed time to get used to the idea. It was a victory just to have come over without them. She felt it would be better, for tonight anyway, if it ended there.

She almost grabbed her coat, but she was so afraid the closet door would squeak she decided to get it another time.

She was still smiling, despite the harsh bite of the wind, when she reached the guesthouse. But then her phone buzzed.

When she pulled it out of her pocket, she saw that it was just a push notification from one of her apps, although she had missed a text, much earlier, from her mother:

No one here has heard from you in several days. Are you really going to treat your family this way?

Tia sighed. Just when she’d finally been feeling a bit better...

Seven

After Seth heard Tia leave, he rinsed his brushes, even though he hadn’t been working long, and went down to the kitchen. He still had dinner to clean up, but he wasn’t in any hurry to get started.

Spotting the open bottle of wine on the counter, he poured himself a glass and carried it out back. He could smell a storm coming, but it hadn’t started to rain yet, and he was used to chilly weather. San Francisco could be freezing, even in the summer.