Grace read Eleanor’s four pages aloud.
Eleanor had first met Mom outside Arthur’s company offices.
Mom had gone there hoping to speak with someone about Dad’s dismissal.
Arthur was traveling.
Executives refused to meet her.
Eleanor happened to be leaving a luncheon in the building and noticed Mom sitting alone in the lobby.
At first, Eleanor assumed she was waiting for someone.
Then she noticed Mom crying.
“She wrote that?” Arthur asked quietly.
Grace nodded.
Arthur looked toward the window.
Mom had rarely cried in front of us.
That was what I remembered most strongly.
Even when Dad was worried, even when bills arrived, even when the refrigerator seemed empty, Mom had a way of making everything sound temporary.
We’ll figure it out.
That was her sentence.
She said it about everything.
According to Eleanor’s letter, she took Mom to a café across the street.
