“We have to see where each dollar goes before winter gets here.”

“I understand that,” I said.

She rose from the stool, picked up her glass of tea, and headed toward the master bedroom hallway without saying another word.

I rinsed the knife under the chrome faucet, letting the warm water run in a thin, careful stream.

I wondered why Renee was chasing small jumps in the utility bills so hard when Daniel kept telling his clients his real estate business was booming.

At a quarter to nine, I carried a neat pile of folded white bath towels down the dark hallway toward the linen closet.