She did.
That was the beginning of something.
Not the end.
For months afterward, Lauren and I had to learn how to speak without pretending the wedding never happened.
Some conversations were easy.
Others were not.
We disagreed about what she’d told Ethan.
About Margaret’s influence.
About my entering the church after being asked to stay away.
About whether I had sometimes minimized Lauren’s embarrassment during adolescence because I was proud of surviving financial hardship.
That last conversation surprised me.
Lauren said:
“When I was little, sometimes you told people how cheaply you bought things while I was standing there.”
I frowned.