Summary

The second chapter is titled “Water/Boston.” Dawn returns to the house she shares with Brian. Apparently, he thought she might not. Brian says their daughter Meret “doesn't know,” and Dawn takes that as “an unexpected gift” (48). Dawn thinks back to her third year in graduate school when she learned her mother had advanced ovarian cancer. Her mother had hidden it from both her children, Dawn and 13-year-old Kieran. Their father died in the military before Kieran was born. Her mother seemed relieved to have Dawn with her as the end approached. Dawn earned a degree in social work and took a job at the hospice center where her mother was staying. She hated how much time she spent on paperwork and how little time she had to devote to any single client and several years later, she discovered a course in...