I met them outside on the edge of the field. The children spilled out happily from one van and then the other. Lee gave me a quick, tight hug and then chased after the others to the house, where the high schoolers were going to prepare a snack. Terry and Julia greeted me with smiles. I led them to the schoolhouse and when I opened the closet, hope thrummed through me. I am good, I told myself. Here was proof on the shelves, in the three-inch spaces between each basket, in each carefully written label.

Would they see it?

I turned around. “I wanted to show you, in case you want anything arranged differently,” I said, and hoped for their praise.

“Well, now look at this,” Terry said. But Julia cocked her head, and soon Terry’s brow furrowed. He started to speak and then paused. “This is how you spent your day?” he finally asked.

I nodded.

“This is your day off, Mila,” Julia said. “Next time, go on a hike. Lie on the grass. Read a book or play the piano or stay in bed and do nothing. You don’t need to have anything to show for your Sundays. Your Sundays are your own.”

“Oh,” I said. I tried to breathe. “Okay.”

I was back at Jonathan and Amy’s, scrubbing their sink white, until Terry put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Mila, thank you. This is a huge weight off my mind, such a big help.”

“Yes,” Julia said, her voice softer, linking her arm through mine. “It’s never looked so good in here. All these costumes—I’d forgotten about so many of them.”

And then we walked across the field, Terry and me and Julia. Together, we stepped into their bright house.

___

That afternoon, I met Dr. Cole for the first time. He knocked twice at the kitchen door and stepped in with his black medical bag. “Time for checkups, everyone!” he boomed from the doorway.

Terry’s voice called out from his bedroom: “Is that my brother?”

“The very one!” Dr. Cole called back.

Terry appeared in the kitchen and the two men embraced.

“Who wants the first checkup?” Dr. Cole asked. Ever eager, Lee’s hand shot up.

They retreated to Terry and Julia’s room and closed the door behind them. The dishes from the afternoon snack were stacked in the sink, so I got to washing and Julia soon joined me.

“Dr. Cole is one of our closest friends,” she told me, dish towel over her shoulder. “He and Terry met in college, freshman year. Never let each other go.”

Carefully, I handed Julia a large, wet platter. As she toweled it dry, she asked, “When was your last physical?”

“Just a few months ago.”

She nodded. “And do you have any prescriptions you need filled? Any concerns, or matters you need checked on?”

“No.”