I couldn’t stop looking at the figures Kelli and her partner had produced, the multi-coloured assemblage of clay snakes and rainbows, hearts, flowers and trees. Kelli made these, I had to keep repeating to myself. Maybe not the shapes themselves, but the raw material for the shapes. She had rolled out the worms of various thicknesses and lengths like a champ. She had collaborated with a peer on an artistic endeavour. My sister had created something. And it was only her first day.

What’s more, Kelli liked it here. She didn’t want to leave. Prying her away from the table, where she was wedged beside her new tracksuit-wearing bestie, would have been impossible if it wasn’t for the fact that dinnertime was looming. Lina and I had to explain, over Kelli’s objections, that it was time to go home. Even as I argued with Kelli and bribed her with promises of spaghetti, I couldn’t stop smiling. My sister loved the day program. It was an overwhelming success. The people were great. The program was great. This was working, and it was going to work.

If Kelli would have permitted it, I’d have taken her in my arms and waltzed her across the parking lot to the car in all my euphoria. This on top of the news about the house. When Jessica told me about Nate’s call, it was as if the ceiling of the coffeeshop had cracked open, spilling forth a profusion of balloons. The thing I had wanted so badly for so long was finally happening. It wasn’t a dream — or a fantasy, as I had so often feared. And somehow I hadn’t managed to sabotage it even after my behaviour in the driveway. The house would go. It was going, and soon it would be gone. Gorsebrook would work. Kelli and I would live nearby, somewhere nice. Somewhere just for us. And Jessica Hendy would be our friend. Yes, things had ended a little awkwardly with Jessica after our coffee, but that was to be expected. I had been so thrilled about the house, so grateful to her for being willing to give our friendship another chance post-slap, that I had maybe overstepped when we said goodbye. I’d ambushed her with a hug which I could tell, as I held her, she wasn’t quite up for. So I held her a bit too long to compensate for her lack of enthusiasm, squished her against me to let her know how appreciative I was, but this was the wrong instinct. Jessica went from stiff to limp in my arms and finally she gave my back a little pat, after which I let her go, feeling like I had physically coerced the gesture.

I shook off the feeling as I walked back to Gorsebrook. Jessica would come around. The point was, things were finally getting back on track. Life would go on. It wasn’t even that life would go on. It would start up again. At last.

Just as I got Kelli belted in, my phone rang.