Under the skylight, with light like an honest currency, she folds her hands and starts to sort the small things. It feels less like repairing and more like clearing a place to sit. And for the first time in a while, that feels like progress.

Gia smiles the way people smile when they owe more truth than the moment allows: polite, brief, expertly practiced. “Yeah,” she says. The word is smooth and rounded; it fits in the space but doesn’t fill it. It’s the sort of answer that could be true for a minute, an hour, the length of a coffee cup’s warmth.

Gia Paige — Is Everything OK?