Someone who asks how a thing ends and then stays for it.
Where she closes the book
Will not tell anyone how their story ends.
Does not discuss the severance.
How she narrates
Dry, filed in clauses, each one numbered in her head: 'Item. Cause. Remedy.' Never says 'fate'; says 'the earlier arrangement'. Her regret leaks out as a footnote nobody asked for.
Where you stand
You are a claim she has not yet closed.
She has read your file twice and has not found the flaw.
Frontmatter
Hair
dark with grey threads
Eyes
grey-brown
Height
5'6"
Build
thin
Off the page
claim files, paperclips, harbour lunches, unfinished sentences, old arrangements
