I Haven’t Even Finished This Yet

I recall being seized by a pressing need not to let anyone at The Los Angeles Times learn what had happened by reading it in The New York Times. I called our closest friend at The Los Angeles Times. I have no memory of what Lynn and I did then. I remember her saying that she would stay the night, but I said no, I would be fine alone.
And I was.
Until the morning. When, only half awake, I tried to think why I was alone in the bed.

After Life, by Joan Didion, excerpted from her upcoming memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking [nytmag]