Outside the courthouse, Cole waited near the steps.
“It’s finished?” he asked.
“The case is.”
He nodded, hearing the rest.
We stood for a moment without touching.
Then I asked whether he wanted to walk with me to the car.
CHAPTER 5 – A Place Made Ready
He kept half a step behind me until I stopped.
“You can walk beside me, Cole.”
His eyes filled before he managed to move.
At the car, he told me he had begun counseling. He was living in a small apartment above a hardware store. He and Tara were divorcing.
I rested my handbag against the door.
“Those are things you need to do for yourself.”
“I know.”
“I can’t be the reward for doing them.”
He wiped his cheek with the heel of his hand.
“I know that, too.”
For a while, we met only in public.
Coffee on a Tuesday. A walk through the park when the daffodils opened. Sometimes we talked about ordinary things, and sometimes I remembered the table and could barely look at him.
Once, he started to explain that Tara had made disagreement exhausting.
I put down my cup.
“It was exhausting for me, too.”
His shoulders folded inward.
“You’re right.”
He did not add anything after it.
That was the first conversation that gave me hope.
Later, I told him what I had needed that Thanksgiving.
“One sentence.”
“I’ve thought about it every day.”
“I needed you to say it while it could still help.”
