“And that some breathing room might do you some good, that’s all. Hence the whole point of the trip, you know?”

“I thought the point of this trip was for me to run one of your errands.”

“You know what I mean, Kev.”

Kevin sighed into the phone. He couldn’t argue Jack’s point. It was true, reminders of his wife were everywhere back home, made even worse by the fact that the house had remained largely undisturbed since her death. Upstairs on her bedside table, the book she had been reading was still sitting underneath the lamp, marked at a page somewhere near halfway. Her wardrobe was exactly as she’d left it, shoes and clothes ordered neatly, and in the bathroom, her toothbrush remained perched next to his. The smell of her soap and shampoo still lingered, her fragrance trapped in pockets of the house, thick in the air. Even the oversized day planner on the refrigerator had yet to be wiped clean, and its schedule, which Helen had studiously kept up to date, eerily taunted the days ahead. There was no escaping it—you couldn’t turn a corner without coming across something.

“You’re right, Jack. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“No, it was a good idea for us to get away from it all. I shouldn’t be biting your head off.”

“Forget about it. Tell me about the place you’re staying? What’s it like?”

Kevin leaned back in his chair and glanced around the large, crowded room. “It’s pretty old but has its charms. Kind of reminds of me that old Victorian Helen and I had in Buckman. Do you remember?”

“Sure. That was after you joined the department, that little fixer-upper.”

“That’s right,” Kevin mused, his head now swimming with memories. “Helen was so excited when we bought that place. It wasn’t much to look at. The gutter was hanging by a thread and the roof probably had half a dozen holes in it. There was a big storm one night and I remember the two of us running around at two in the morning, trying to catch all the leaks. In the end we just gave up, collapsed on the ground, and started laughing. Maybe it’s because we were young and didn’t know any better, but we felt invincible, like there was nothing that could hurt us. As long as we had each other, we would be all right. I guess that all sounds a bit silly now, doesn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t. Sounds like two young people who were in love.”

“We really were.” Kevin lowered his head and dwelled on the memory for a moment longer, and as he did his gaze drifted to his wedding ring. “The day we got engaged, I knew I was going to love that woman forever.”

“You mean the day that Helen proposed to you,” Jack said jokingly.