Third set of lateral raises, 5:52 a.m., week six back at the gym off Route 9. She was twenty-six and had not liked a photograph of herself since college, but in the mirror between the racks her shoulders looked like they belonged to a woman with a plan. She added a fourth set that was not written anywhere in her notebook.

It was gone by the time she reached the car, the way it always went. On the drive she did the arithmetic — how many months of 5:40 alarms it would take to make the mirror version permanent — and the number came out honest and very large. She kept the gym clothes on until noon, sitting at her desk in them.