Maya wrote it down so she would not forget, even when Claire told her she did not want a debt recorded against a bowl of soup.

“Leave room for emergencies,” Claire said.

“I am the emergency.”

“No.

You’re the person making lists.”

Maya rubbed the ring’s silver band with her thumb.

She had begun wearing it on the chain beneath her blouse, where Lily could not accidentally pull it off the table.

She did not feel newly rich.