« No bag, ma’am? »
« No bag. »
I climbed in and gave him the address of the house Henry and I had built together. As the city slid past, my phone stayed silent.
Then I remembered the call. A week before Henry died, a soft voice on the line, a young woman named Claire Bennett from the local news station, asking gently if the family might speak on camera about him.
I stood in my own driveway.
« He was a very private man, » I had told her. « I’m sorry. »
She had said she understood. She had left her number.
I scrolled back through my calls until I found it. My thumb hovered a long moment above her name.
But I couldn’t press it. Not yet.
The taxi pulled away, and I stood in my own driveway staring at the house I had lived in for thirty-two years.