No shoes, no coat, and the cold had already gotten into her.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” she said.

Then she came off the step into me, and I got my arms around her and held on, and she was shaking so hard it moved my shoulders.

“Inside,” I said.

“Come on, now.”

I sat her on the couch, pulled the afghan off the back of it, and got it around her.

She wouldn’t let go of my sleeve.