There was an awkward silence for a few moments.
“I lost someone too,” she offered. They both hesitated, unsure of what to say next. “So, I guess that it’s good not to be alone.”
“Yeah,” he grunted. “Walk you home?”
“Sure,” she said. They made small talk as they walked, neither saying much more than talking about the meeting itself. They both knew the other had lost someone important to them – that was enough. It was nice to have someone here with a real problem, not something that could easily be fixed.
“So,” she asked as they walked, deciding to change the subject. “What do you do, Jim?”
Jim knew that the second he’d answered he’d made a mistake. Julie’s attitude had been cautious, yet not quite rude, but the second he told her that he was a firefighter, her face became a she
