Before she left, she asked if she could visit again.

I said she’d better.

The room felt warmer after she left.

The next morning, I received a message from Eliot: Is she okay?

I wrote back: She’s wonderful.

A few days later, another knock at the door—it was Eliot. He looked uncertain.

“I didn’t know if you’d open the door,” he said. “Neither did I,” I told him. But I opened it. We didn’t solve everything that day, but it was a beginning.

If you’ve been waiting, maybe now is the time to reach out.

Love has a way of showing up unexpectedly—sometimes in a knock, a message, or a new face who remembers what’s important.