Rebecca sat forward on the sofa with her hands clasped over her knees.

“Paul talked about you all the time, sweetheart.

You see how Megan kept everything he loved?”

Lily pulled the red ribbon tight across her knuckles until the skin under her fingernails went pale gray.

“He brought me a tin of butter cookies every November,” Lily said, looking straight at the carpet.

“He told me November was the most important month of the year.”

My fingers pressed hard into my left collarbone.