Renata sat beside me throughout the hearing.

When we left, she asked whether I wanted to get lunch or go straight home.

I almost said, “Whatever you want.”

Instead, I chose lunch.

We went to a diner and ate grilled cheese sandwiches while rain tapped the windows.

For a few minutes we talked about the terrible music playing over the speakers and a family trying to fit six people around a four-person booth.

I thought about how extraordinary it was to have an ordinary afternoon after a morning in court.