I slipped into the basement, hands full of folded linens, while Dalia struggled with the mattress cover. She cursed quietly under her breath and shot me a look when I let the edge fall.
"You okay?"
I just nodded. Shade's mother had mirrored mine too closely. Feral. Detached. Unraveling in a way that never really stitched back together.
Dalia tugged the sheet into place and sank down on the edge of the cot. "This is a lot."
I dropped the linens into the nearby chair. "She can't stay in that cottage."
"She shouldn't have been there to begin with."
We both kept busy. I started lining the drawers with clean paper while Dalia unpacked clothes from a brown paper bag. We leaned into the motion, letting the rhythm of work keep the harder thoughts at bay.
"People said it was grief," I finall
