I Left My House Empty Three Days Before Christmas

off my shoes.

Then I cried.

Not elegant crying. Not one quiet tear.

I bent over and put my elbows on my knees and cried the way you do when there’s nobody to reassure and nobody to explain it to. My nose ran. My chest hurt. I made ugly sounds. I got mascara on the heel of my hand because for some reason I’d put on mascara to drive to the coast, as if continue reading …