Emma’s jaw dropped. “That is so not how it went. I showed up to our lessons, and then you came to my house to drop off my knives. That was when everything changed.”
“What changed?” the marketing director asked.
My cheeks felt hot. “Her son answered the door and I thought he was her boyfriend. He was older, mind you. Eighteen. And he was super protective, so I just assumed he was her boyfriend. That was the moment I realized I was jealous of whoever got to date the cute chef from work.”
Emma grinned wide and leaned in to kiss me.
“And tell me about your project with the Leroys.”
“Emma already made soup from the scraps from our kitchen and took it to the shelter downtown. Then Mara, Jack’s wife, had grocery experience, and she helped us tap into the network of stores with excess food. Food banks are more of a distribution center, and we take all the stuff that won’t work for them,plus some grocery buys to fill in the gaps. SoUPCYCLE delivers ready-made meals to people who need them.”
“And the best part is, the system is transferrable to any city who wants to open a kitchen.” Emma plugged the website for ongoing donations and anyone interested in partnering with us.
“Very cool,” our interviewer said. “Is there anything else you’d like to share about what you’re working on, or about your story?”
Emma and I looked at each other, the light and shadow of that January morning etched into her face. I swallowed hard and threaded our fingers together.
“Can I go first?” Emma asked, and I gestured her on.
She clasped a hand on top of our joined ones. “Sometimes I think about how I saved Harlan, but then he turned around and gave and gave until in a way, he saved me too. I was just living, and when I let him into my life, he made everything . . . more. He just is more. More than I ever knew to ask for, but the one who fell into my lap anyway.”
My brow knit and my lips twitched. “Love you so much.”
She snorted. “I love you too.”
I took a moment to think, taking a few breaths.
“We spend so much of our lives in pursuit of greatness, but there’s incredible beauty around us all the time. The best thing in your life might already be there, waiting for you to pay attention to it. In my case, it took that beautiful thing tackling me to the ground for me to notice it.”
“And cut. Great job, you guys. People will love this.”
Emma smiled over at me as she took her mic off. We thanked the marketing folks, I signed a few things for giveaways, and hand in hand, Emma and I headed to my bike in the parking lot.
I thought about our life together, and all the parts of our story we kept to ourselves. The origami and the steaks. The struggles with Liam and Jeff. The ways we had to work atweaving our lives together. The way I both never saw her coming, and knew she was there all along.
The way I wished for her without even knowing it.
The best kinds of wishes are the ones you don’t ask for out loud. You fold and fold, working toward joy with each bend and crease. You get paper cuts and aching fingers, but you sculpt tiny capsules of beauty along the way.
And when all the tiny, beautiful things you’ve created rain down on you at the end, you find you were never going to get your wish by shouting at the sky.
Because the kind of wish you were after is ultimately unspeakable.