He leaned back and crossed his arms, and the bracelet slipped down under his sleeve where I couldn’t see it.

The mediator came out at eleven ten and held the door open for us.

Mediation Room B had a long table, a wall of windows with the blinds at half-mast, and a glass dish of butterscotch candies that nobody touched.

Gloria unwrapped one before she even sat.

She had buttoned her cardigan all the way to her throat and left her earrings at home.

Every minute or so she patted her chest with two fingers, as though her heart needed reminding where it belonged.