“Ethan told us you were still working hard in Colorado Springs.”

She paused and looked down at my hands with a slow, pitying smile that never reached her eyes.

“We were all so terribly sorry when your marriage ended,” Margaret said, lowering her voice to a staged whisper.

“It breaks my heart to see you drifting through these years all alone, without a family of your own.”

Two women from the hospital auxiliary board turned toward us, slowing down to listen.

“I manage my life quite well, Margaret,” I said.