Me and Ben finally got around to painting the guest room after getting rid of all those empty move-in boxes. It came out nice, the room, clean and pure, and we agreed that the window curtains should be sheer and delicate, lace and white, and the furniture should be simple and white, too, and maybe even a white carpet, but for now the room was empty and bright and clean and pure.

“Who do you think the first guests will be?” I asked Ben, and he said that they should be special, and I wondered if we even knew anyone special enough.

A week later I bought a mattress, and when Ben came home from work we showered together and then I led him to the guest room to admire the brand-new mattress, just sitting there in the middle of the guest room, covered with a brand-new pure white sheet.