On her first day working, Annie inspected the large window toward the back of the room. It’s a bay window, vast and majestic with no screen, and utterly inappropriate for a toddler. So her first task had been to childproof it, wondering how the window’s easy latch and magnitude had escaped the Kellers’ notice.

Besides the window, Suzy’s bedroom is wonderful. It is painted cerulean blue, with fine silver detailing where the ceiling meets the walls. Above the bed is an abstract painting, squares and triangles overlapping in soft hues, and near the large window is a framed photograph of all three family members, taken in black and white. Mrs. Keller sits cross-legged near Mr. Keller’s ankles, and he holds a naked Suzy, who is about six months old. He is enthroned on an armchair with claw-and-ball feet that seem suspended in reality. There are no other flourishes to indicate a time or place.

Annie likes to imagine herself in the picture, sitting next to Mrs. Keller, with her arms wrapped around her bent legs, juxtaposed to Mrs. Keller’s crossed ones. She would wear a white blouse and black pants and her hair would be straight, falling delicately onto her shoulders. Like Mrs. Keller, she would perfect that mysterious smile, lips tilted just so, eyes daring the photographer to ask more questions, to penetrate this family.

On the other side of the room, there’s a white dresser, upon which sits Suzy’s small silver boar-bristle brush, and her little barrettes to keep that wispy hair in place. Inside the dresser are Suzy’s pretty clothes, the little pink onesies that she has outgrown, and more pajama sets, tiny bathing suits with watermelons or daisies on them, white bucket hats that fasten underneath her chin. Annie loves to fold the tiny apparel, stacking items on top of one another in even piles, color-coordinating the little socks in the top left-hand drawer.

But it’s Suzy’s closet that Annie loves best, situated near the entrance to the room, always closed because Suzy doesn’t like it to stay open, especially at night. Inside, on the floor, there is a pink chest full of toys, a smiling elephant painted on its top, endless dolls and stuffed animals and board games clustered together. Above the chest hang Suzy’s summer dresses, printed with wildflowers or exotic animals. Suzy’s favorite is one with sea animals, swimming aimlessly, almost, but not quite, barreling into one another. A seam cuts off a seahorse’s head, and Annie has to make sure to hide that edge so it doesn’t upset Suzy.