Eli had gone to bed an hour earlier after pretending he wasn’t tired and then nearly falling asleep halfway through a sentence. The television downstairs had gone dark. The dishes were done. The lights were off except for the one in Jack’s bedroom. For the first time in weeks, everything felt still.
Rosalind stood by the dresser with her back to him, pulling her sweater off slowly, like someone already half-asleep and thinking about nothing more complicated than bed. Jack was sitting on the edge of the mattress, watching without really watching. Then he saw her back. And his whole body went cold. He didn’t understand it at first. Not consciously.