But he was showing up for the child he had so eagerly wanted to celebrate.

“I hope he keeps doing that,” I said.

“Me too.”

Our conversation ended without gossip or promises.

It struck me that Kendra and I could acknowledge one another’s humanity without pretending we were linked by friendship.

She had participated in a painful chapter of my life.

She was also a young mother trying to prevent her daughter from inheriting all the worst parts of it.

I wanted her to succeed, even if I never saw her again.