The meetings with the new contractors lacked the excitement of her early discussions with John. Walking them through the damaged house, she saw only potential pitfalls rather than possibility. The first contractor seemed overly optimistic, and the second one was too concerned with taking on liability from the work that was already done. The third person she met with actually specialized in restoration work, putting houses back together after floods and fire. He seemed like the most promising of the bunch, a fact that drove home for Maja how badly the house had been damaged. Hiring a new contractor felt a lot like diving back into the dating pool after a bad breakup: The contractors said all the right things to her, but she knew there was a good chance that it would all just end in disappointment and recriminations.

By the time she’d finished her meetings, Maja was exhausted, and she gratefully accepted an offer from Aneeta to stay for dinner and go back to New York in the morning. Ted hadn’t minded, which wasn’t a surprise. He’d been so preoccupied. He’d barely said a word about work, and whenever she’d suggested that they make dinner plans with friends, or meet for a drink after work, he’d begged off. He’d never put in the call that he’d promised to make to the stone yard to see if they could match any of the materials they already had, and he’d even forgotten to take in his dry cleaning, which he was always on top of. Maja knew whatever was going on at work had him stressed, and she was trying to give him space. Most of the nights they’d spent together over the last two weeks were in front of the TV, zoned out on HBO shows.

Maja was tempted to stay in New Falls for the day and stop by the police station. She hadn’t heard anything from them in a few days, and she wanted to see if they were any closer to filing charges. Not knowing who it was who had broken into her home, in such a small community, was a weird feeling. But she couldn’t miss another day of work.

After coffee with Aneeta, she walked into town to catch the bus back up to the city. There was a group of commuters huddled together at the gas station, sipping coffees and eating donuts from a shared box that sat open on the bench as they waited for the bus. Maja stood a little apart, watching them. They looked like they’d known each other for years. Would she and Ted be a part of that group one day?

One of the women caught her eye and waved. “Morning!” she called out. “I think I’ve seen you on the bus a few times. Donut?”