My Stepmother Said I Had Already Left the Navy Until a Man in Dress Whites Walked Straight Toward Me

set of orders in my duffel. It was the next piece, the one I had been expecting since I landed. He handed it to me. My thumb broke the seal. Paper has a particular sound when a room is waiting for it to mean something, small and unbearable. I read the first line silently. Then again.

My father took another step forward. “Clare,” he said, and this time continue reading …