The topic came up in a place where we both felt safe. It came up in Alisha's office, which always smelled faintly of lavender and felt calm and steady. We were there for one of our monthly check-in sessions. These sessions were no longer about crisis or survival. They were about maintenance. About checking in - on what we had built and making sure it stayed strong.
We were talking about the dinner party. We talked about how it felt to sit among friends again and speak honestly without fear. We talked about how good it felt to have a shared story that didn't feel like a secret or a wound anymore. We talked about how we had learned to speak about our past in a way that felt true but not painful.
Alisha listened quietly. She always did. She tilted her head slightly, her hands resting on her
