I filled the tall vase and set the lilies in it one stem at a time.

“Beautiful,” he said from the doorway.

I smiled at him over my shoulder, steady, and turned the vase a quarter turn so the best side faced the room.

The bathroom light was the last one on upstairs.

Julian had fallen asleep in front of a documentary about ice and left the volume up, so the sound of wind came down the hall at me while I stood at the sink.

The diamond threw a white speck onto the tile every time my hand moved.