But I try to spend more time thinking about the fact that I did turn around.”

She didn’t tell me that fate had brought us together or that everything happened for a reason.

She simply said she’d seen the edge of a sneaker and thought she should check.

“That small decision mattered,” she said.

“So will the small decisions you make for yourself.”

Later, Colleen took a photograph of the three of us.

I looked at it afterward.

For the first time in weeks, I recognized my own face.