June Gloom

Summary

• Tova, a regular customer, visits the Shop-Way grocery store, where Ethan Mack, a chatty store owner she's known for years, works.
• Tova buys various items including jam, which is on promotion and tissues, a now-found luxury she started buying for her husband Will during his time in the hospital.
• Ethan offers his condolences as Tova's estranged brother Lars has passed away.
• A flashback reveals that Tova and Lars, once very close, gradually grew apart after Erik, Lars's child, died. The reason for their distance is vague, with no concrete event or argument leading to the rift. Lars is Tova's last living relative.
• Ethan, noticing Tova's bag was not packed correctly by the new employee, Tanner, scolds the boy and sends him back to stocking the dairy case. Tova then repacks her own bag properly.
• Back home Tova struggles to make space in her refrigerator already stuffed with casseroles, left by friends trying to comfort her over Lars's death.
• She hears a scratching sound on her porch and discovers a stray cat. Offering it some of her excess food, she names it Cat.
• Inside, Tova listens to the news and speculates that the news anchors are having a relationship due to changes in tone when addressing each other.
• The chapter ends with a note on the weather: June gloom.