It was an ordinary business hotel near downtown with a beige room and a view of a parking ramp, and it cost a hundred and forty-one dollars a night, and we were there for nine nights.

I put her in the bath.

She would not let me wash her head.

She put both hands over it and said “no” — not crying, just no — and I said okay, and we washed everything else.

Then I put her in the bed and got in next to her.

She fell asleep holding my thumb.