Clare and her oldest friend from college had been planning this visit for the past three months. But only yesterday, her arms full of towels and pillows, Clare realized that it was too soon for her husband's study to become a guest room. First she needed to talk through her anguish and anger at finding him there, slumped over his desk beside the empty vials of pills, finding his folded note that said "Clare."

A widower finds his stolen car and begins a relationship with the thief; a woman whose sisters levy accusations against their dying father wonders why he chose them, not her; a divorcing couple celebrates a final beach weekend with their closest friends.

In fifteen stories of loss and recovery, including two Pushcart Prize winners, Pamela Painter cements her status as a master of the contemporary story.

Pamela Painteris the author of three story collections,Wouldn't You Like to Know,Getting to Know the Weather, which won the GLCA Award for First Fiction, andThe Long and Short of It. She is the co-author ofWhat If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. Her stories have appeared inThe Atlantic,Harper's, Kenyon Review,Mid-American Review,Ploughshares,Quick Fiction, and in numerous anthologies, such asSudden Fiction,Flash Fiction,Flash Fiction ForwardandMicroFiction. She has won three Pushcart Prizes andAgni Review's John Cheever Award for Fiction. Painter lives in Boston and teaches in the writing, literature and publishing program at Emerson College.