The dancers had to stay behind.
Leah stood in front of the print with her bag open on the bed. It was ridiculous to consider taking it. Daniel had put it in the room for her to enjoy, not given it to her.
She folded the orange jacket and put it on top of her clothes.
Anna knocked and waited for an answer.
‘Come in.’
Her sister had brought a roll of strong tape. She held up the torn bag.
‘We can make this last one more journey.’
Leah took it. ‘Thank you.’
Anna knelt beside the bed and pulled the edges of the fabric together. Leah held them while she pressed the tape down. They had spent years repairing things in the ten minutes before people needed them. This was another thing they knew how to do without discussing it.
‘I could wait,’ Anna said.
Leah looked at her.
‘About moving. A week, perhaps. Then you could stay here until you found somewhere. You don't need to go to a sofa because of all this.’
‘What would the week be for?’
Anna pressed the tape flat. ‘Getting you settled.’
‘Would you be any more married in a week?’
Anna's hands stopped.
Leah sat back on her heels. She could imagine taking the offer. Anna here, keeping the house safe by not leaving it. Daniel at a careful distance. A week in which nobody had to face the empty rooms yet.
It would be easier tonight. She was very tired.
‘You want to go,’ Leah said.
‘Yes.’
‘Then go.’
‘I don't want you thinking I just walked out while you had nowhere.’
‘I have somewhere. It has a sofa.’
Anna tore off another length of tape. ‘And a cousin coming.’
‘Yes. I heard that part. I'll find a room.’
Leah looked at the pale patch on her ring finger. The ring was in the drawer beside the satin purse. She had put it there before going out that afternoon, afraid she would touch it while she talked to Owen.
‘I won't ask you to stay married so I can stay here,’ she said.
Anna looked at her for several seconds. Then she nodded and folded the loose tape against itself.
‘All right.’
Leah got up to collect the things from the drawer. The purse caught on its chain. Anna lifted the chain free without a word.
‘I said you wanted me to need you,’ Leah said.
Anna looked up.
‘I shouldn't have said that like I knew. I don't think that's why you did it.’
Her sister put the purse on the bed. ‘Thank you.’
‘I'm still angry about what you actually did.’
‘I know.’
‘I wanted to hurt you. So I picked the worst reason I could think of.’
Anna sat on the edge of the mattress. ‘You did hurt me.’
Leah nodded. There was no excuse that would not make the admission smaller.
‘I'm sorry.’
‘All right.’
They both looked at the repaired bag. It was ugly now, with silver strips down one side, but it would hold.
‘I'll miss that picture,’ Leah said.
Anna glanced at the dancers. ‘You always liked it.’
‘Daniel remembered.’
Her sister looked back at her. Leah could feel the question between them, and knew she would have to answer if Anna asked.
‘Do you want him?’ Anna said.
Leah sat beside her, leaving a little space.
‘Sometimes. Today I wanted to kiss him. I stopped.’
Anna closed her eyes.
Leah waited. She had not told her to be considerate of a marriage that was ending. Anna was entitled to hear a truth about it, and to dislike that truth.
‘Thank you for stopping,’ Anna said.
‘I wanted him before I knew you were leaving. I can't make that nicer.’
‘No.’ Anna opened her eyes. ‘I don't think I need to hear the rest tonight.’
‘All right.’
They finished the packing separately. Anna checked beneath the bed. Leah zipped the case. There were still two boxes of Leah's things in the garage, brought over in Daniel's car before she arrived. They would not fit on Mira's sofa with her.
At the bedroom door Daniel asked whether he should carry the case.
‘Yes, please,’ Leah said.
He picked it up and took it downstairs. Anna followed with the repaired bag.
Leah stayed long enough to check the drawer one last time. It was empty. The room had lost the slight untidiness she had made in it. She closed the door.
Mira pulled up outside at seven. She leaned across the passenger seat and pushed the door open.
‘The boot's already full,’ she called. ‘So the back seat gets your entire life.’
Leah carried her case down the path. Mira got out and took the smaller bag from Anna.
‘Good repair,’ she said, examining the tape. ‘Terrible bag.’
Anna smiled faintly. ‘It'll do.’
Daniel stood by the gate with Leah's painting box. He had remembered that too. He had fetched it from upstairs, where she had put her painting things away on Thursday.
She took it from him. ‘Thank you.’
‘You can collect the garage boxes when you're ready.’
‘I will.’
He looked at her as if there might be more to say. Leah shook her head a little. He stepped back.
Anna did not ask for a hug. Leah touched her sister's forearm, then got into the car.
Mira waited until they had turned out of the street before asking, ‘Do you want to talk, or do you want the radio?’
Leah looked at her hands.
‘Radio first.’
Mira turned it up.
Her flat was smaller than Leah remembered. There were shoes beneath the sofa, a camera bag on the only clear chair and a large framed print resting against the wall. Mira moved the shoes with her foot.
‘You get four nights,’ she said. ‘Then my cousin visits and we need a better plan. We'll work it out tomorrow evening. I'm out most of the day, remember.’
‘I remember.’
‘There are clean sheets in that cupboard. You can find your own water. I'm in the middle of editing photographs and if I stop now I'll hate all of them.’
Leah put her case beside the sofa.
‘That sounds good,’ she said.
Mira looked up from her screen. ‘It sounds dreadful.’
‘I mean the sofa.’
‘Oh. Yes. It has a dip. You'll discover it at three in the morning.’
Leah took a sheet from the cupboard and spread it over the cushions. Mira returned to her photographs. Neither of them needed to fill the room with reassurance.
Later, when the bed was made, Leah sat beside her case and told Mira what had happened. Her friend listened, asked questions when she did not understand, and swore once so loudly that someone knocked on the wall.
Mira lowered her voice. Leah laughed, then cried, and the two things mixed until she could no longer tell which had started first.
She slept badly in the dip. It was still the bed she had chosen.