Welcome

It was an overcast day in the late spring of 2020, which felt appropriate, considering the year. Two strangers were invited by a mutual friend to stand in a crowd and care about something, which is never a bad way to spend an afternoon. The crowd was loud with conviction. The two women were not. They stood beside each other, silent, unaware that this was the first time their lives had overlapped in any meaningful way. When it ended, they went home separately. This seemed final enough at the time. A week later, the same friend summoned them again, as friends sometimes do when they unknowingly play the role of fate. They recognized each other then. There were glances—uncertain at first, then curious, then less careful than either of them expected. Things moved quickly after that, which is how these things tend to move when they are going to matter. A spark, for lack of a better word, had caught. The hearth was warming. The world, meanwhile, was beginning to open itself back up. Their hearts followed suit. And so it goes…