Where did you get that ring

moved beneath me.

Cars passed.

Dogs barked.

Someone laughed on the sidewalk.

Life, rude and ordinary, continued.

At noon, I went to my parents’ house.

Not because I wanted to fix things.

Because I wanted to finish them properly.

The house looked the same as always. White shutters. Blue hydrangeas. Porch swing. The kind of suburban Virginia home where people continue reading …