I stood by the kitchen window watching the familiar shape of her small body moving back and forth while he listened to her explain the solar system.

I did not experience a sudden feeling of restoration.

My marriage was still over.

The years he had missed were still gone.

I was not the young woman who had once waited up for him with dinner.

But June was laughing, and he was listening.

That mattered.

When the guests left, Warren helped collect paper plates.