list,” I said.
“It was added before graduation.”
“An unauthorized amendment.”
“Take it up with the committee.”
“Elise.”
She held out her hand.
I looked at it, then at the people passing the café tables. I could have used the joke again: pedestrian access, public space, one of the principles I defended professionally. She would have laughed, and we might have found another way to postpone the part that mattered.
Instead, I took her hand.
“Not here,” I said. “Over there.”
I led her to the clear square of pavement
