The following Christmas, Thomas and Lucia returned to their old house.
Veronica was gone. The divorce was final. Thomas had kept the house, though it no longer felt like the same place. He painted Lucia’s room with her permission. They replaced the bed. They cleaned out every drawer. They burned nothing, though Thomas wanted to. Lucia said she did not want the house to become another dramatic memory.
Instead, they made it ordinary again.
They cooked badly.
