Chapter 134 - Chapter 134: The House of Songs

The garden came up the way things come up at the lake — slowly, and then all at once. The peas broke through in the first week of April, small green hooks in the dark earth, and the tomatoes stood in their cages by the second, and the rose, true to the man's word, put out its first leaves where the south wall held the day's warmth longest. Aaron checked them every morning before coffee, the way some men check the weather, and Sophie watched him from the kitchen window and did not comment, which was the kindest thing she could do.