ANNA'S POV
I woke before the sun.
The room was gray, the furniture only shapes in the half-light. I hadn't slept. I got up. Dressed. Went down and made pancakes the way Elias liked them, fruit on the side, milk instead of juice.
When I called him down, he came. He climbed onto his chair and pushed at the pancakes without eating.
"Are you sick?" I asked.
"No."
"Did something happen?"
He let that one go. His fork wandered the food around the plate a while before he said, small, "Mama."
"Hm?"
"Can Papa come today?"
I put my coffee down. "Not today, baby."
"When?"
"Soon."
He pushed the plate away. "I not hungry."
He climbed down and went toward the stairs, the pancakes untouched behind him. I watched him go and didn't call him back.
The doorbell rang before I'd decided anything
