There was a knock against the jamb of the open door and she looked up to see Raj. She stood, wiping her chapped hands on her apron.

“Lew said you were up here. He’s looking very smart in his suit down there.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “We haven’t really got anywhere to sit yet.” She pulled one of the two chairs out from the little table for him and sat on the bed.

“I’ve just come to say goodbye,” he said.

“We’ll come to the station.”

“No, no, it’s too early. Four in the morning tomorrow. Better to say goodbye now.” He sat on the creaking chair.

“How’s the baby?”

“It’s nothing but a feeling of sickness right now.”

“My dad came to visit.”

“What?”

“My real dad. He was at the house after your wedding. Came and went.”

“Why? What did he come for? What did he say?”

“Didn’t say anything, really. Wanted some of his brother’s papers, I think. Brought me a boomerang. Couldn’t remember my name.”

“Did you ask him about your mom?”

“Didn’t get a chance, really. He was in a hurry.”

“What a damn jerk.” She wanted to put her hand on his or something, but she had set the chair too far away. Drumming his fingers absently against his lips, he was glancing around the room. She felt ashamed at how small and bleak it was.

“So tell me about him. What did it feel like to—?”

“I’ll write you about it,” he said. “Not sure what I think right now.”

“Write often and write good letters,” she said. “I’ll write you good letters, though there’s probably not going to be a lot going on here.”

“And my life studying physics is going to be real exciting.”

“It will be. You’ll be in a big city. You’ll meet all kinds of new people.”

“Bunch of nerds like me.”

She couldn’t stand it anymore. “You’re sitting too far away.”

He went to shift his chair closer, but she put her hand on the bed beside her. “Sit next to me.”

He did so. They were both leaning forward as if they had stomachaches. Annie kept her eyes on Raj. She wanted to remember him as well as she could before he left. He seemed to understand this, submitting himself by looking off into the room. She felt a roiling pressure inside her. She wanted to be unreasonable, to tell him it wasn’t fair that he could just get to leave her like this. She wanted him to admit that he wouldn’t be happy for one minute without her. God, it felt as if it were happening even now: They were already becoming strangers, would soon have nothing to say to each other. She was just a high school graduate, married and pregnant at eighteen, and staying here. All at once she felt a little flicker of fury at him. Wouldn’t it be easier to cut it off now than to feel that connection slowly die? Foolish, hysterical thoughts, she knew. Bravely, in silence, he offered his vulnerable profile to her like someone yielding to being irrationally beaten. But yielding only because the other person—she—was essentially powerless.