“French bulldog. If she gets too heavy-”

“Don’t worry, I’m stronger than I look.”

We settled in facing chairs.

“Comfy leather,” she said, stroking an arm. “That’s the same…” Looking down at Blanche. “Am I holding her correctly?”

“Perfect.”

She looked around the room. “Nothing in here has changed but the rest of the house is totally different. It used to be smaller. With wood sides, right? At first I didn’t think I had the right address.”

“We rebuilt a few years ago.” A psychopath had made the decision for us, torching everything we owned.

Tanya said, “It came out extremely stylish.”

“Thank you.”

“So,” she said. “Here I am.”

“Good to see you, Tanya.”

“Same here.” She looked around. “You probably think I should talk about Mommy’s death.”

“If you want to.”

“I really don’t, Dr. Delaware. I’m not in denial, it’s been a nightmare, I never thought I’d experience anything this horrifying. But I’m handling my grief as well as can be expected-does that sound like denial?”

“You’re the best judge of that, Tanya.”

“Well,” she said, “I really feel I am. I don’t bottle up my feelings. On the contrary, I cry. Oh, boy, I cry plenty. I still wake up every morning expecting to see her, but…”

Her eyes misted.

“It hasn’t been long,” I said.

“Sometimes it seems like yesterday. Sometimes, it’s as if she’s been gone forever…I suspected she was sick before she did.”

“She wasn’t feeling well?”

“She just wasn’t herself for a couple of weeks.”

Same thing Rick had said.

“Not that it stopped her from double-shifting or cooking or keeping up the house, but her appetite dropped and she started losing weight. When I pointed it out, she said don’t complain, maybe she’d finally be skinny. But that was the point. Mommy could never lose weight, no matter how hard she tried. I’m premed, knew enough bio to wonder about diabetes. One night, when she’d barely touched her dinner, I pointed out what was happening. She said it was just menopause, no big deal. But she’d started going into menopause two years ago and women typically gain, they don’t lose. I pointed that out but she brushed me off. Finally, a week later, she was forced to check it out.”