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“How will I–”

“One thing at a time,” Daphne told her. “I don’t have long. I can tell. I feel like I’m being pulled back. Go to the hardware store on Fourteenth Street tomorrow. Ask them for the same order I placed when I was in there last. They’ll have a record of it. Tell them we needed more, if they ask. I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can, but bring it all home and hide it in the closet. I love you, Iris. I love you so much.”

Then, Daphne was gone.

Two Days Later

Iris had gone to the hardware store, bought the items on the order, trying to act like that was something she’d done a hundred times before so as not to be suspicious, like Daphne asked her to, and she hid them, large pieces and small, inside the closet in the bedroom they never used. She had nothing else to do then. There were pieces of metal and tools in the closet that she’d never seen before, and she had no idea how to use them. When she wasn’t thinking about that fact or that she was seeing the ghost of the love of her life, she stared at the wedding ring, wishing they’d had a small ceremony with trusted friends that wouldn’t have been legal but would’ve meant everything to them. She wished she’d never needed to find out about Daphne’s work, that her body wasn’t lying frozen in some mystery location, and that her ex-fiancé would have just left them alone.

“Iris, I’m here.”

Iris jumped. She’d been pouring herself some tea, and it spilled on her hand.

“Ow!”

Daphne rushed toward her, and Iris moved to run her hand under the water to help with the searing pain. Daphne was there then. She was trying to take Iris’s hands to help her.

“Oh, sweetheart. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t–” She stopped when she realized that she couldn’t actually touch Iris’s hands. “I can’t help you. I hurt you, and I can’t help you.”

“You didn’t hurt me. I spilled on myself. You know how clumsy I can be.”

“But I can’t touch you,” Daphne said as Iris wrapped her hand in a dish towel. “I can’t kiss your hand to make it feel better like I used to whenever you hurt yourself. I can’t open the door for you. I can’t make love to you. I can’t–”

“I get to see you,” Iris replied. “I still can’t believe it, but you’re here. I want everything, but this can be enough.”

“No, it can’t,” Daphne said. “It’ll never be enough. I spent years not being able to touch you. At work, at our dinners, wheneverhewas there. When we moved in, I could at least touch you here whenever we wanted.”

“I know.”

“And I want that again. I want to go away with you, be in private with you, find a place on the beach and sit there next to you, hold your hand, make love under the stars.”

“That’s a dream, Daphne.”

“A dream I’ve always wanted with you. I was going to ask you to marry me, and I was going to ask you to run away with me right after. I thought we’d have a small ceremony here with just a few people who know about us. Then, we’d pick up our final paychecks, take anything we have out of the bank, and we’d go.”

“Then, you died,” Iris said.

Daphne looked away, seeming to need a minute. Iris watched her beautiful eyes and wondered what Daphne was thinking. Maybe it was the same thing that Iris was thinking: that this could be enough, even if they couldn’t have it all. Maybe she was thinking the opposite. When Daphne returned her eyes to Iris’s, though, Iris knew that she wasn’t thinking that this could be enough.

“You have most of the parts we need. There are a few other things you can’t get at the hardware store, but you can find them in any science lab.”

“I don’t have access to any labs. They fired me.”

“Even a high school science lab will have what we need, and there’s a high school down the street from here.”

“You want me to break into a high school?” Iris asked as she ran her hand under the water again to try to help with the pain.

“They have football games every Friday night and that pancake breakfast on Saturday mornings, remember? We used to see the signs on the road on the way to work.”

“Yes.”

“You can go then. Donate to get some pancakes. Then, act like you’re going to the restroom and find the science room. I’ll tell you what you need.”

“Why can’t you just be there with me?”

“Oh, sweetheart… I am. You just can’t hear or see me, and I don’t know why. I can only appear in these short bursts, but I do try. I try all the time. I don’t sleep. All I do is try to get back to you.”

“I know you can’t touch things, but can you lie down?”