She came over.
I took her hand.
Marcia raised the camera.
In the photograph she showed us afterward, Elaine wasn’t looking at the lens.
She was looking at me.
There was so much love in her expression that I knew immediately which picture I wanted framed.
Later that morning, Nick joined us for a few photographs because I’d invited him.
He arrived with a scarf I’d forgotten at home.
He didn’t interrupt.
He didn’t assume he belonged in every picture.
He waited until I asked him to stand beside me.
We took one photograph together.
It wasn’t proof that everything had been repaired.
It was simply a record of where we stood.
Two people expecting a daughter.
Still married.
Still uncertain.
Still deciding whether they could rebuild what had been damaged.
Afterward, we drank hot chocolate from paper cups.
Nick asked about my next shift.
