“How much?”

“Enough that I’m glad you stayed last night.”

Those words stayed with me through breakfast, and through the slow walk down the block her doctor had recommended. Ravenswood was bright with autumn color — children in knit hats kicking leaves near a school fence, a dog barking from behind a gate.

Sophie moved slowly, one hand against her side, but her eyes followed everything with quiet hunger, as if the world had become precious while she’d been trapped in hospital sheets and machine sounds.

“I forgot how loud morning is,” she said.

“Cars?”