I pulled the box of the landline phone as far as it would go on the wire, and then pulled the looped cord behind the dish rack and wedged the headset between my head and shoulder. We talked as I washed the plates. I worried she would say I had betrayed her, but she didn’t. These nights on the phone, her curiosity and warmth lifted me up. We did not talk about the fact that we weren’t supposed to see each other. We didn’t argue. She didn’t let on, but later she told me that she was worried about me, and that she began to stay at home in the evenings so she’d be there to pick up the phone in
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