Another stick figure with brown braids.
A giant red heart between them.
Lauren laughed so suddenly Priya looked over from the next station.
“What?”
Lauren held up the paper.
Priya squinted.
“Oh. You’ve been adopted.”
“Apparently.”
Priya nodded like this was a serious workplace update.
“Happens.”
That Friday, Ethan invited Lauren and Denise to dinner at his house.
Lauren almost said no.
Not because she didn’t want to go.
Because yes still felt dangerous.
Because accepting kindness had become its own kind of skill gap.
But Denise said, “We’re going.”
So they went.
The house was nice without being showy.
Lived-in.
Books everywhere.
A child’s sneakers by the mudroom.
A family photo wall that stopped abruptly three years back, as if grief had pressed pause on the whole house.
Maddie ran to the door before anyone else could open it.
“Chicken lady!”
Lauren laughed and knelt just in time to catch her.
