Then one afternoon, we sat outside a family-court hearing waiting for our case to be called.
The hallway smelled like burnt coffee and printer toner.
Laura wore a pale green sweater.
Mason and Luke sat in their stroller eating cereal crackers.
I came back from the vending area with two coffees.
I stopped a few feet away.
“Do you want one?”
Laura looked at the cup.
“What is it?”
“Black coffee.”
She almost smiled.
“Still making it strong enough to strip paint?”
I stared at her.
For seven years, she had complained that my coffee tasted like motor oil.
I smiled.
“Probably.”
She took the cup.
Our fingers did not touch.
That was okay.
A year earlier, I would have wanted the moment to mean something enormous.