Richard POV
She made coffee naked on the third morning. I want to be precise about this because the memory is a thing I want to keep. I will not write sexy because I'm not twenty-three anymore. I will write mine. Millie made coffee naked on the third morning of five days I had to myself, and I sat in the doorway of the kitchen and watched her do it without her knowing. She couldn't know I was watching because there was a particular thing she did when she thought no one was in the room. A kind of small, settled occupancy of her own body, like she was finally, briefly, alone in a way that didn't cost her anything. I have been watching this lady for three years learn how to be alone, and it has been the longest slow-motion grief of my life. I did not make a sound.
She reached for the kettle
