“And then I fell,” she said quietly. “In the bathroom. On a Tuesday night. I lay on that floor for a day and a half. And I wasn’t scared, Carly. That’s the strange part. I was cold, and I was in terrible pain, and I knew I might die there. But I wasn’t scared. Because I kept thinking, It’s Tuesday.
Wednesday. Carly comes on Thursday. I just have to hold on until Thursday.“
She reached across the table and took both my hands.
“You were the one thing in my life I could count on,” she said. “Every single week. For eight years.
You never canceled. You were never late. You never took a glass from my cabinet without asking. You ate your lunch in your car so you wouldn’t leave crumbs. You thought you were just my cleaner.” Her voice cracked for the first time. “You were never just my cleaner, Carly. Not for one
