Hannah told him she’d been a good worker, sometimes the person younger employees sought when a shipment arrived late or a patient needed urgent supplies.

Losing that work had felt like losing proof that she was capable.

Nathaniel told her about his first failed construction bid, forty years earlier, when he had spent weeks planning and lost the contract because he’d misunderstood a single line in the specifications.

At the time he had believed the failure was a verdict on his character.

“Did you ever stop feeling ashamed?” she asked.

“Eventually.