She hugged me at the end of the night. “I’m glad you came,” she said.
“Me too,” I said.
And I meant it. Which doesn’t mean everything is fine. It means I was there, and I meant it, and those two things were enough for that particular night.
## What Elise Said at the End of the Night
I was leaving the venue when Elise caught me by the arm. She was in the middle of a wedding, slightly flushed, bouquet handed off, the whole thing nearly finished.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
She looked at me for a second. “I know we’re not all the way through it,” she said.
“No.”
“But I’m glad you were here. And I know what I did.”
“I know you know.”
She nodded. Then she said: “The dress you’re wearing tonight is also really good.”
I laughed. It was a thing I hadn’t expected to do that evening, just break into an actual laugh. The dress I’d worn to her wedding was a dress I’d also made myself — shorter, simpler, nothing like the wedding gown, something I’d put together over a few weekends in the spring. I’d considered wearing something I’d bought, just to have the simplicity, but in the end I’d worn something made.
“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks.”
She went back to her wedding. I went to find Ben, who was talking to one of Noah’s cousins about something and looked relieved when he saw me signaling toward the exit.
## A Note on What Repair Looks Like