“Together.”
We marked her deadlines on a calendar.

I took Liam for longer walks on her drawing days.

When a project went badly, she complained about it without worrying that I would call her ungrateful.

When it went well, we celebrated with homemade pasta and a trip to the park.

Our marriage wasn’t stronger because something terrible had happened.

It was growing stronger because we finally did the ordinary work we’d neglected before it happened.

PART 21
One morning in September, a packet arrived from the apartment management company.