Clara answered the next morning.
Clara: I'd be open to that. If you're here again, message me after you have your dates. I can tell you whether I'm free.
I sat at the kitchen table and read her words until I stopped looking for a hidden promise in them.
It was not a declaration. It was not even a plan. It was a possibility with a condition: if I came back, if she was free. It felt honest, and honesty was more useful than certainty.
I wrote, I will. Then I put my phone down and went to work.
The next few months were not dramatic. I worked, took walks, and called Lena more often. I continued to be bad at asking for help until I was already tired. I noticed when I did it and tried to ask sooner.
In late spring, I received an offer to lead the nonprofit's communications project for a yea
