From the doorway, Will nodded. She followed his eyes toward where two vent covers had been lifted from where they were usually set into the hardwood floors, and she furrowed her brow in curiosity.

“I didn’t know if—” he began, then cleared his throat again. “I thought maybe you’d put something in the vents.”

Her eyes snapped to his. “For God’s sake!” she said. “What kind of person do you think I am?” (The kind of person who has definitely thought about it once!)

He shrugged. “I didn’t—”

“Wait,” she interrupted. “Did you hear that?”

She waved a hand to shush him before he could answer, turning her head. Silence. But she could’ve sworn she’d heard something a second ago, a barely audible, high-pitched . . .

“There!” she said, waving him over to where she stood. “Did you hear that?”

Slight miscalculation to usher him over, since once he was beside her she again felt compelled to move closer, to lean her body into his. If she pressed her face against his chest, if she breathed in the scent of his soft-looking T-shirt, she wouldn’t have to smell the—

“I heard that,” he said, and she nearly jumped.

Forgetting yourself, she scolded.

“Right?” she said, even though she’d missed whatever he’d heard by virtue of her inappropriate olfactory fantasies about a rude man’s T-shirt. “It sounds like a—”

“Oh, Christ. Is there an animal in here?”

“Shh.” She tiptoed in the direction of the closet. After a few seconds of renewed silence, she looked back at him and whispered, “Did you already look in here?”

He nodded, stepping forward to follow her. And then, like they’d choreographed it, Nora slipped her phone from her back pocket and flicked on its flashlight, and Will reached his arm out to slide open the closet door.

Despite not-dumpster day, this hadn’t been emptied yet, and immediately, Nora felt a wave of sadness to see a line of Donny’s faded flannel shirts, so familiar to her.

“This stuff still has to go to Goodwill,” Will murmured.

Nora ignored that, stretching to her tiptoes and shining the light on the shelf above.

“I said I already—” he said, but quieted when they heard the noise again, coming from somewhere lower, and before he could stop her, Nora dropped to her knees, bending forward to stick her whole head inside the closet. Will made a noise behind her, maybe some kind of cough-warning, and at that moment she realized both her awkward position and her suddenly increased risk of getting bitten or spit on by a rabid animal that was about to have its hiding place discovered.