Chapter 15 — The Wine-Red Dress

On Saturday evening, I took a dress out of the back of my closet that I had not worn in years, a deep wine-red evening gown that Julian had once, long ago, told me was his favorite.

I put it on deliberately.

I did my hair and my face slowly and carefully, the way you prepare for something you have decided to walk into with your eyes open.

When I came downstairs, Leo was standing at the bottom of the staircase, and he was wearing his dark suit, the one we had bought for his grandfather’s funeral, the sleeves already a little short because he was growing so fast that year.