The call would come between two and four. She had the afternoon off, which turned out to be a mistake. She ate half of her lunch. She washed the same two plates three times. She opened the laptop and could not look at the screen. At quarter to two she sat in the chair by the window and tried to breathe in for four and out for six and could not remember which came first. Every car that went past sounded like her phone. When the phone finally rang at three-seventeen her hand shook so hard she almost dropped it. It was the nurse. She listened with her whole body clenched.
