We should probably use it here.”

Back at the house, she put her books on the dresser beside her model of the solar system.

I noticed that she had erased the X from the chair in her kitchen drawing.

She hadn’t drawn anyone sitting there.

She had simply left it blank.

It seemed like progress, although I didn’t yet know what it meant.

PART 11

The first week after the gala was quieter than I expected.