“Go back to sleep,” he said, gathering her in a pile of bedding and kissing her ear. Joad thought about the woman who wrote the letter. That woman had emerged from the secretary desk and grabbed her by the throat. She could sense a malign force in the room. She imagined blood on the walls, kids screaming. Andrew slept without knowing. She could never tell him. It would break his heart. She felt her secret suffocating her.

Joad woke to a world somehow unreal. She felt spacey and disconnected. She did what work she could, and in the late afternoon, she made focaccia, wrapped it in a tea towel, cut a bouquet of zinnias from the flower patch, and followed the shoulder of the road to Colleen’s, passing through the open gate. As she rounded the side of the big river house, she remembered the hysterical dog and stopped. She looked up at the porch, which was already bathed in golden light. And there, sure enough, was Colleen.

“Hi!” said Joad, waving. “I made focaccia, I thought you might like some. And…” Her voice trailed off as she saw Colleen flop one leg off her recliner, make a move to stand, then drop back again.

“I’ll come back,” said Joad.

“No, no. You come up here.”

“I really didn’t want to barge in, I’ll just leave these here.” She lay the bread and flowers on the top step and turned to go.

“Siddown,” said Colleen. “Please.” Joad sat down opposite Colleen, her back to the sunset. Colleen was wearing an aged pair of peach-colored sweatpants and a stained white T-shirt that read LOBSTER HEAVEN. Her gray hair was stringy and unwashed. She looked like her own alcoholic twin.

“So.” Colleen stared at Joad, her creased face deflated. “I am fascinated by you, I don’t mind saying, Joad.”

“I don’t think of myself as all that interesting.”

“All that history you carry around in you.”

“I don’t know much about it, really.”

“You should do some research. You could learn something about yourself. Drink?” Joad glanced at the bottle of white wine on the floor.

“Um … maybe white wine?”

“In the fridge. This one’s dead. Go back and back.”