I did not say anything for a moment.
The hallway was quiet. The party sounds came from the other rooms. The jazz and the voices and the house holding all of it the way it was built to do.
I said: thank you for calling, Carolyn.
She said: the things she said about you, while I was describing the house. She kept saying: yes, that’s Miranda. The beams, that’s Miranda, she always loved old wood. The greenhouse, of course, she used to grow herbs on the apartment windowsill in college, she always wanted a greenhouse.
She said: your mother knows you very well.
She said it simply.
Not as an accusation. As an observation.
Your mother knows you very well.
I said: yes.
I said: she does.
Carolyn said: I hope you had a beautiful Christmas.
I said: I did.
She said goodnight.
I put the phone in my pocket.
