Chapter 53

• The ones I’m afraid to look at closer, and find answers to.
• I stumble out of the shower after some time. I go through the haphazard mechanics of sliding on the hotel-provided robe and pull it as tight as I can around me. I’m freezing. The muggy Italian weather permeates the room, but I’m so very cold. I walk the short distance to the bed and crawl back into it, teeth chattering and body exhausted.
• But it’s now that I’m physically cleansed—that my eyes are closed and my body is sinking into the mattress—that I can hear the cars on the street below and the sound of the vacuum in another room nearby. My throat constricts momentarily.