“I remember your face,” she said. “Not clearly. But enough. I remember you asking if I was okay. I remember you catching me.”
I looked down at my hands.
“I’m just glad you’re here.”
She tilted her head.
“What do you do exactly?”
“Client outreach. Campaign strategy. A little of everything. Small agency life.”
“Do you like it?”
The question hit me harder than I expected.
Liked.
Past tense, maybe.
Present tense, still.
I swallowed.
“I love it.”
Her eyes held mine.
“Even after what happened?”
“That wasn’t the work,” I said. “That was one man.”
She sat back slowly.
I could almost see her filing that answer away somewhere important.
Then she asked about my family.
I told her about Emily.
The girls.
The emergency fund.
The fear.
Not all of it in those exact words, but enough for her to understand the shape of my life.