“Can we go get lunch?” I asked.

Margo laughed.

“I know a diner with pie that’s worth the drive.”

At lunch we talked about my grades, Colleen’s shop, and Margo’s plans to take a vacation.

We did not spend the entire meal talking about the storm.

When I returned home, I wrote one sentence in my notebook: “I went back to the place where I fell, and then I left it again on my own terms.”

I closed the notebook and went to bed feeling tired in an ordinary way.