The donor event was scheduled for the last Friday of October. I agreed to attend as a staff member, not as a speaker. Celia had made no attempt to change my mind. She had also kept the revised program free of personal anecdotes.
The event took place in the ballroom of the Bellwether Hotel, a renovated building with painted ceilings and a view of the harbor. I wore a black dress I had owned for three years and flat shoes I could stand in for the evening. Theo came because he had offered to help set up the temporary ramp. He did not come as my date, although he asked whether I wanted him to meet me there.
"I do," I said.
He arrived with a tool bag and a folded jacket. We worked side by side for an hour, tightening the ramp's supports and testing the edge of the platform. The board chair w
