“I didn’t bring you together,” he corrected me.

“I made a mess.

You all decided not to leave it that way.”

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Then Denise nodded.

“That’s about right.”

The room laughed, not at him, but in relief that we could finally say the truth without losing the tenderness that surrounded it.

After the meeting, Clarence asked me to walk slowly with him to the front steps.