Laura

She introduced herself first and apologized for Kate second, in the easy way of someone who has been doing both for a long time. She is a nurse. She sat close to Kate throughout lunch, their knees nearly touching. Midway through the meal she said something she hadn’t planned to say — that her parents didn’t know about them. That they were church people. That she still got birthday cards and Christmas cards, but they had stopped asking about her life. She said she kept thinking maybe one day she’d say something right and they’d let her back in, like a test she kept failing. The priest told her love isn’t a test. If it were, none of us would pass. She let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. When they left, she touched his arm. Just once. Thank you, she said.