Sherri couldn’t stand the thought of entering her old home again. She paused, looked at the sign that now read FOR SALE OR LEASE in the front window of the store, and reached for her keys. She heard Raylee’s voice coming from down the street.

“Sher! You’re back!” The little girl seemed like she’d been waiting all her life for her to show up. It felt good to be missed, good not to be alone.

“I’m not here for long, just a few days.”

Raylee didn’t want to hear that Sherri’s return was only temporary, so she changed the subject. “Do you know what camblet is?”

“Camblet? No. But I have a feeling you’re about to tell me.”

“It’s a kind of fabric made out of goat hair. It’s also called ‘camelot.’ I’m memorizing the whole encyclopedia. I just started on C.”

“Want to come in?”

Sherri didn’t need to ask. Raylee ran up the stairs in front of her. She was wearing stiff carpenter pants and the kind of striped T-shirt Peter Brady wore. The minute she opened the door to the apartment, Sherri felt the particular, sharp quality of loss that existed in the space. Since her mother’s death, she saw their home as if in photo reverse, defined not by her parents’ presence, but by their absence. Everywhere she looked she saw what was missing instead of what was there: her father was not sitting in the empty wingback chair, her mother’s slippered feet weren’t propped on the needlepoint ottoman. Whenever something had seemed off, her mother would say, “This is potato soup without the potatoes.” That’s how the house felt to Sherri now: it was missing the main ingredient.

When her mother was sick, the apartment had seemed sick, too—dark and listless, the thick wooden shades turned down. But Sherri had left the shades open when she’d left. The apartment was filled with light, and the air, once so stale and heavy, no longer smelled like skin. Sherri wondered why this didn’t make her happier.

Raylee took her usual place in front of the television and flipped on Days of Our Lives, the soap opera Sherri ‘s mother watched religiously. Sherri hadn’t had time for television at the resort and hadn’t kept up. Apparently, lots had happened in Salem. Julie wanted to kill herself and someone Sherri didn’t recognize was playing Hope.

After the episode was over and The Price Is Right had begun, Sherri thought she might lose her mind if she spent another minute in the apartment. How would she survive a whole week at home without her mom to keep her busy? She flipped off the television and grabbed Raylee’s hand. “Let’s get out of here. It’s depressing.”

Raylee slipped on her shoes and gazed wide-eyed at Sherri.

“Do you have a bike?”