Contents

One

This night air was filled with low-hanging clouds. The kind…

Two

Verdi eased into the bedroom and listened for Rowe’s snoring,…

Three

Johnson punched the dashboard in the rented maroon Grand Am…

Four

Kitt creamed her fingers for the new back she was…

Five

Already Verdi could feel the levity inside of her that…

Six

Rowe and his estranged wife, Penda, were at it again…

Seven

Johnson got to Sage’s party first. Before Posie who had…

Eight

There was space between them. This pair of lovers who’d…

Nine

Kitt and Posie communicated across the dining-room table as they…

Ten

Verdi called Kitt the first chance she got the day…

Eleven

Verdi’s chest closed at the thought of sharing a meal…

Twelve

Verdi ended up taking the whole day off. Called her…

Thirteen

Johnson held Verdi for more than a little while. Held…

Fourteen

This time Verdi told Rowe that she’d gone to Kitt’s.

Fifteen

Verdi went on like that for the next month. Vacillating…

Sixteen

This Friday evening in May and Rowe was headed home…

Seventeen

Posie would live at least through the night. They didn’t…

Eighteen

The maroon Grand Am was familiar to Johnson now as…

Nineteen

Hortense rushed into the hospital waiting room and the quiet…

Twenty

Rowe didn’t know for how long he’d even been standing…

Twenty-One

Verdi left Kitt and her mother keeping their vigil over…

Twenty-Two

The bedroom reverberated with Sage’s nighttime breaths and the air…

Twenty-Three

Sage woke all at once with the sensation that a…

Twenty-Four

Verdi slept like a lamb with Sage curled up against…


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Books by Diane McKinney-Whetstone

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