Invited to Sunday lunch with mutual friends, they made small talk: how each knew the hosts, work, neighbourhood stuff, children and grandchildren, the usual things.
But she knew him from somewhere else, possibly a long-ago one-night stand, perhaps just a neighbour. Then she remembered.
Twenty years previously, he’d taken her daughter and some friends camping. Her daughter’s tent had accidentally caught fire and he’d pulled the girl out just in time.
Now she was embarrassed that she hadn’t recognised the man who’d saved her daughter’s life.
He was still embarrassed that a child in his care had been so endangered.
But she knew him from somewhere else, possibly a long-ago one-night stand, perhaps just a neighbour. Then she remembered.
Twenty years previously, he’d taken her daughter and some friends camping. Her daughter’s tent had accidentally caught fire and he’d pulled the girl out just in time.
Now she was embarrassed that she hadn’t recognised the man who’d saved her daughter’s life.
He was still embarrassed that a child in his care had been so endangered.
