“Slow building usually makes a stronger foundation,” he said.

“Especially for somebody who’s already lived through a collapse.”

We texted for two months before we had dinner. And I want to be clear about what Adam was and wasn’t, because it matters to the whole shape of this story.

He never rescued me. He didn’t negotiate my divorce, or find my apartment, or get me my promotion, or fight my family.

He arrived after the most dangerous bridge was already behind me — after I had crossed it myself, in the dark, carrying three children.

He brought company, not salvation.