Jade poked her head into Nathan’s room. “Don’t forget to put your dirty clothes in the hamper,” she told him. “I’m doing laundry today.”

Nathan looked up at her, interrupting his enthusiastic game that involved rocket ships, robots, and (rather inexplicably) several cute stuffed animals. “Okay, Mom,” he replied, smiling up at her. “When’s Dad coming home?”

“He and the rest of the band is practicing,” Jade replied. “He said he’d be home around six. We’ll have dinner and then… I don’t know, you want to watch a movie or something?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Can we watch my new Battaglion movie?"

“Sure. And we can pop some popcorn.”

“All right!”

“Don’t forget the clothes,” Jade reminded him, closing the door.

“I won’t!” he called through the door.


Jade smiled to herself and strode over to the kitchen, whistling. Might as well get the dishes clean before Graham gets back, she told herself. She gathered the dishes from lunch and placed them into the dishwater, then added the soap. She shut the dishwasher and turned it on.

“Now what?” she muttered to herself, flopping onto the couch. She picked up the remote control and turned on the television, idly flipping through the channels. Nothing caught her attention; it was the usual mish-mash of talk shows, reality shows, and celebrity gossip shows.

“I hate daytime TV,” she grumbled to herself, tossing the remote toward the television. Much to her amusement, the remote struck the “off” button, turning the television off. “Neat,” she muttered.

A low rapping at the door caught her attention. “Huh?” she mumbled. Graham’s not due back for a few more hours, she thought, perplexed. And I’m not expecting anyone. Delivery, maybe?


Jade carefully rose from the couch and plodded over to the door. She gasped in astonishment when she saw who the visitor was. “Why are you here?” she asked. “I thought… I figured…”

“Just wanted to see how you were doing. I haven’t heard from you in a while. You do show up a lot in the papers, though. Either stuff you’ve written, or for being, you know, married to Graham.”

“Mark… please… just go,” Jade pleaded.

“Last time I saw you was at the concert. And that was, what? Seven, eight, nine years ago? Back when I was still doing solo work.”

Jade lowered her head, remembering the concert all too well. “The past is the past,” she said quietly. “Let’s not go through all this again.”