#37thando

The topic is relevant to my clinical practice," she said.

"Yes," he said.

"Those are the reasons I'm going," she said.

"I know," he said. And then, with the specific quality of someone who had learned when to say the rest of something, "I know they're not the only reasons."

She looked at him.

She said, "Reid."

"Arden," he said.

"Spencer," she said.

The coffee place was small. She took the table in the back corner. Of course she did.

They talked about teaching. About translation. About being seen inaccurately versus not being seen at all.

She looked at the mug — the wrong mug, no COFFEE on it.

"The label isn't the thing," she said. "But sometimes the gap gets smaller."

He was very still.

She said, "Spencer."

He said, "Raine."

First names. Returned. The same shift, the same register.

She thought: I am sitting in a cafe and the man across from me just said my name and I am not moving away from it.

She thought: that is the most accurate thing I have thought in five months.