“We don’t have to.”

That afternoon we went to a used bookstore nearby, where Chloe found a battered collection of essays on probability.

We discussed the difference between uncertainty and chance.

She was animated, precise, occasionally amused by my ignorance.

At the end she bought the book with her own money.

I walked her to the car where Marianne was waiting.

Nothing dramatic happened.

I returned home with the memory of a normal conversation, and it felt like more than I deserved.