The light lay across the clean laminate counter, pale and dry against the white tile backsplash.

I measured two scoops of dark roast coffee into the glass carafe and let the hot water drip slowly through the paper filter.

Next to my cup on the counter lay my blue work badge and the heavy key fob to my 2017 silver Toyota.

The key fob was slightly scratched along the black plastic edge where my father had dropped it on his hall table two months earlier in Portland, but the casing held firm.

Next to the key fob sat my black engineering logbook, open to the page where I had written down the California DMV confirmation number and the certified mail tracking receipt.