I said we hadn’t planned dessert so it was perfect timing.
She seemed pleased by this. Not in the over-careful way of someone who is working very hard at being gracious. In a simpler way, like: I did a nice thing and it landed as a nice thing.
We ate lunch, which Daniel had cooked, and she asked about my project coordinator work in a way that was different from before. Before, when she had occasionally asked about my work, the questions had the quality of questions that establish participation in a conversation rather than actual curiosity — a nod at a subject before moving past it. This question was: what does project coordination actually involve day-to-day?
So I told her. I told her about the specific deliverable I was managing that week and what the difficulty was and why it mattered to the larger project. She listened and asked a follow-up about the client and whether they had clear expectations or often changed scope, which is an accurate and thoughtful question about project work.
I said: mostly clear, occasionally scope drift in the back half. The challenge is catching it early.
She said: I imagine that’s a lot of the job.
I said: most of it, honestly.
After lunch she helped clear the table, which she had always done. What was different was that she asked where things went rather than putting them where she had put them before. My dish soap is under the sink in a particular holder. She asked: is this still where the soap is?