Instead I asked whether she wanted to see it.

She said no.

“I know her words already,” she told me.

“I heard them every day.”
That afternoon Julian called with a discovery from our building’s service records.

A maintenance technician had visited the apartment a week before New Year’s after Maya complained of an unusual draft.

The technician had recommended a thermostat replacement.

Eleanor canceled the appointment without telling us, saying there was no need to disturb a recovering mother.

The technician’s email confirmed the cancellation.