The bag was awkward through the narrow door. Mara turned it sideways, caught the handle on the latch and had to back out far enough for Elena to free it.
“There,” Elena said.
Mara lifted it again. The book shifted against the coat buttons, a small hard edge beneath the towel. She followed Elena upstairs, carrying it in both hands so it wouldn't knock the wall.
The drawers had arrived. They stood opposite the bed, a plain wooden chest with a pale scar across the top where something had rubbed in the van. Elena had put the photograph over the scar, leaving the lamp on the table by the window. There was room for the folding chair now, one leg held steady with a little piece of cardboard.
“You mended it,” Mara said.
“It was annoying me.”
Elena took the bag from her and laid it on the bed. Mara stood beside the chair, her arms still shaped around what she'd been carrying.
“Tea?” Elena asked.
“If you're having one.”
“I am.”
She went to fill the kettle downstairs. Mara took out her phone and sent Iris a message. I'm here. Iris answered almost immediately: Good.
Mara put the phone away. Her coat was still on. She took it off and folded it over her knees, sitting carefully in the repaired chair. It held.
Elena returned with two cups and a little jug of milk. There was no tray, so Mara got up to take one before she could put the milk on the floor. They set everything on the table. Elena opened the bag, took out the warm coat and held it against herself.
“That one,” she said, pleased.
Mara nodded. Daniel had put the gloves with it. Elena had left them behind, where he could find them. The coat itself was light in her hands, less bulky than it had looked hanging beside Mara's kitchen.
She found a hanger, put the coat away and returned for the nightgown. Mara passed her the folded clothes from beneath it. They fitted into the new drawer with a little space at the back. Elena spread the nightgown on the bed, smoothed it down the middle and folded it before putting it on top.
The book came last. She unwrapped the towel, smoothed the torn cover and looked at the strip of paper marking the middle.
“You didn't read it.”
“I haven't had time.”
“You've retired.”
Mara laughed. Elena smiled and put it on the table beside her cup. She sat on the bed, took her tea and waited until Mara had stopped holding hers as if she had brought it to somebody else's room by mistake.
“How was it?” she asked.
“Good. The food was good. Jo got some home for Calvin.”
Elena nodded.
“Iris brought Nell. They brought cakes. Jules's sister came.”
“Was she all right?”
“She liked it. Simon gave her some for tomorrow.”
Elena smiled into her cup. Mara looked at the little scar across the new drawers. The photograph didn't quite cover it, but it left only a pale strip showing beside Daniel's shoulder.
“I made a mess of some of it,” she said.
Elena lifted her head.
“Dan thanked me. For getting everyone together. He said I'd keep doing it. Get all five around a table again. I told them what I'd done on Saturday. The money back. How I'd called him when you wanted to leave.”
She stopped. The room was quiet enough for her to hear somebody turn on a tap downstairs.
“He asked me why I did it there,” Mara said.
Elena kept her cup in both hands. She looked toward the window, then back at Mara.
“Does he know you're here?”
“I told him Friday. I was coming here afterward, with your things. That you weren't coming home with me.”
Elena nodded once. Mara could not tell what else she was thinking. She looked down at her dress. The little yellow mark near the hem was pollen from the flowers she'd carried. She brushed it off with the back of a finger, leaving a paler streak.
“He was thanking me,” she said.
The cup moved slightly in her hand. She set it down before she could spill it.
Elena reached for a tissue, gave it to her and waited. Mara folded it, opened it and finally pressed it against her eyes. Nothing had prepared her for how much she wanted someone to say she'd been good.
The water stopped downstairs. A door closed. Through the wall somebody began speaking in a low voice, too near for either woman to pretend the room belonged entirely to her.
Elena put the milk back in the little jug's place on the table. “I sent the questions from my adviser to Anna,” she said. “About the offer. We'll need to go through what comes back.”
“Yes.”
“Not tonight.”
“No.”
Mara wiped her face once more and put the tissue in her pocket. Elena took the cups downstairs. When she returned she had a cloth in her hand and a small blue plate, the chipped one from the old kitchen. There were two pieces of toast on it.
“I was going to have this,” she said.
“Don't give it away.”
“I'm giving you one. There's butter downstairs. I didn't bring all of it.”
Mara took the smaller piece. Elena gave her the knife, waited until she'd used it and took it back. They ate sitting on opposite sides of the plate, its chipped base rocking when either reached for it.
“It doesn't sit flat,” Mara said.
“Never has.”
She laughed a little, and Elena did too. The room held the sound without making much of it. Mara could hear a bus go past outside, then another vehicle with loose things rattling in its back.
At twenty to ten she picked up her coat.
“I should let you sleep.”
Elena stood and took the empty bag from the bed. She folded it along its old creases, found a smaller square than Mara would have managed and handed it over.
“For yours.”
Mara put it in her pocket. Elena walked downstairs with her, holding the door against the draft so it wouldn't slam. Outside, someone had moved the empty trash cans back against the wall. There was room to step down without turning sideways.
“Good night,” Mara said.
“Good night.”
Elena touched her shoulder, then took her hand away to close the door. Mara heard the key turn. She went to the car and sat until the windows had cleared enough to drive.
At home she put the little folded bag in the drawer with the others. The closet beside the kitchen was open. Her coat hung on one side, the other half of the rail empty. She took off her shoes, found her phone and wrote to Daniel.
Can I call you tomorrow?
She set it on the table. The reply came while she was getting a glass of water.
Not tomorrow.
Mara read it, set the water beside the phone and sat down.