He nodded.
He didn’t say anything.
He got in the shuttle.
The shuttle pulled out of my driveway.
Gravel crunching. Headlights off now. The sun was up.
Deputy Hale got in his Explorer. He rolled down the window.
“Ma’am,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of these civil standbys. Twenty years.”
“I bet you have.”
“Most of them,” he said, “people are screaming. Throwing things. Somebody gets arrested.”
He looked at my house.
“I’ve never had one end with a family sitting at the kitchen table,” he said.
He drove away.
I stood on my porch.
Alone.
The ocean in front of me. Gold. Endless.
The house behind me. Quiet.
I went inside.
I picked up the empty Château Margaux from the counter.
I looked at it for a long time.
Save this for something that matters.
I put it in the recycling.
Then I picked up my silk robe from the kitchen table. The one Melissa had folded and set down.
