I don’t think it would be right to pretend I knew you.

But I care about you very much now, and I want to keep knowing you.”

Olivia thought about it, then pushed a crooked cookie toward her.

“You can have the one with extra icing.”

Margaret accepted it as solemnly as if she had been given a medal.

That was a kind of trust no one could manufacture in advance.

It had to be earned in small, honest moments.

PART 16: WHAT MY UNIFORM COULD NOT DO