She didn’t interfere, but her presence was enough.

Dennis looked from her to me, then returned to his car.

That evening, I felt shaken and angry that he could still disturb a good day.

I told my counselor the next week.

“Feeling afraid doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice,” she said.

“It means your body remembers.

You can build new experiences without pretending the old ones disappeared.”

I took that seriously.