[She bit her lip as her eyes drifted off towards the wall.] "You know how, when you're walking up the stairs in the dark, and you know there's another step, but it turns out there isn't?" [Her eyes snapped back to Howie.] "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, and I've forgotten he's gone, and it feels like that."

[She raised her eyebrows, pressing her lips into a thin line that almost looked like a sign of resignation.] "It happens less than it used to."