Chapter 20

One year after the service station, Christmas Eve arrived without a storm. Ivy, Tessa, and I spent the morning decorating the tree in our apartment. We had invited the people who had carried boxes, driven us to appointments, or sat beside us without demanding explanations. The tree was smaller than the one at the mountain house. It leaned slightly toward the window. Ivy loved it. She hung a blue paper ornament from an earlier visit near the middle. Last year, I might have read that choice...