I thought grief would be the hardest part of losing my husband. I was wrong. The real shock came the night after his funeral, when my daughter-in-law dumped my suitcases in the garage and calmly told me I’d be sleeping next to the dog kennel.

My name is Cassandra Reed. I’m sixty, and I had just buried Gordon, my husband of forty-two years. At the funeral, rain soaked the cemetery as mourners pretended to grieve. My son Nathan looked broken. His wife, Sable, did not. Her eyes held anticipation, not sorrow, as if she were already dividing what she believed was left behind.

When we returned to the house Gordon and I built together, my suitcases were waiting outside in the rain. Sable announced that “things had to change” now that Gordon was gone. Nathan said nothing. The garage, moldy and cold, became my new room.