Cal opened the door in his work shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows.
“You finished?” he asked.
Tess nodded.
He stepped aside and took her coat. She had sent Can I come? from the bus stop. He had answered Yes and nothing more. She had been grateful for the absence of questions until now.
“We got the ring back,” she said.
His face cleared. “Good.”
“Mara had it.”
He stopped hanging the coat.
“What?”
“Since Thursday. It fell out when she put the cardigan on. She kept it.”
Cal looked at her, then at the tote she was still holding. She set it on the floor.
“Why?”
“She didn't want the wedding. Not the whole thing. Children. She'd kept saying she did.”
Tess hadn't put it into those few words before. They sounded almost too easy, a story she could tell someone on a bus.
“They cancelled today,” she added.
Cal hung up her coat and came back.
“Sit down.”
She sat on the little sofa. He sat at the other end, turned toward her.
“All those searches,” he said.
Tess nodded.
“She let you cut up the bag.”
“She didn't know about that.”
“She still let you keep looking.”
“Yes.”
He leaned forward, hands between his knees. She could feel him trying to decide what to give her.
“At least you know,” he said.
Tess looked at him.
“You don't need to go back there and make yourself miserable. You're better off.”
She stood up.
“Tess?”
“I'm not better off.”
He got up too.
“I meant—”
“I know what you meant. I wasn't asking you to make her disappear.”
He looked down, then back at her. “She lied to you.”
“Yes. She did.”
Cal reached toward her, then stopped. He looked at the coat he'd just hung up.
Tess stood in the middle of the room, furious and close to crying. The fridge hummed behind her. She wanted to leave because she couldn't bear the way he was looking at her. She wanted him to come closer because she couldn't bear standing alone.
“I don't want to go,” she said.
He held out his hand.
She took it. When he pulled her gently toward him, she let her forehead rest against his shirt.
He put his other hand on her back. Neither of them spoke.
Tess closed her eyes. She could smell laundry soap and the faint, warm smell of his skin. It made her cry, somehow, more than the things he'd said.
After a while he moved his hand up and down her back. Not much. Enough to tell her it was still there.
“Have you eaten?” he asked quietly.
She shook her head against him.
“I've got soup.”
She nodded.
He let her go slowly. She sat at the table while he heated a pan and put bread in the toaster. The cupboard fell open when he fetched a bowl. He closed it with his elbow, and it fell open again.
Tess almost smiled. Then she began crying harder, embarrassed by the abrupt change.
Cal set the bowl down and came to her. She caught his wrist, held it for a moment, then let go. The pan began to spit behind him. He looked from her to the stove and went to lower the heat.
Tess took a tissue from her pocket and wiped her face. He stirred the soup with his back to her until she put the tissue down.
The bread burnt at one edge. Cal scraped it over the sink, shook the crumbs off and put it on a plate.
“I can do more.”
“It's fine.”
He set the soup in front of her. She dipped the least burnt corner into it and took a bite. It was warm and salty, exactly what she needed.
Cal ate beside her. They didn't discuss Mara again. When Tess reached for water he passed it before she asked. When he reached for the bread she moved the plate closer.
Halfway through the bowl she remembered Mara exchanging the sandwich halves on Sunday. Her spoon stopped. Cal saw it, but didn't ask what she'd thought of.
After supper they sat on the sofa. Tess put her legs beside his and leaned against him, not quite in his arms at first. He shifted so she could get comfortable. She let herself move closer.
His phone lit up on the table. He looked at it, then left it there.
Tess was tired enough to want to sleep. She was also still angry with him. Both things remained while she rested her head on his shoulder.
When she finally got up to go, he asked whether he should drive her.
“Yes,” she said.
He found his keys. She kissed him once at the door, because she wanted to, and he touched her cheek without asking whether she felt better.