My Two Best Friends and I Promised to Reunite on Christmas After 30 Years – Instead of One of the Guys, a Woman Our Age Showed Up and Left Us Speechless

I looked up, expecting to see Rick’s familiar slouch and that apologetic grin he always wore when he was late, like he wasn’t sorry enough to rush, but sorry enough to feel bad about it afterward.

Instead, a woman stepped inside.

She looked about our age, dressed in a dark blue coat and clutching a black leather bag close to her side. She paused just inside the doorway, scanning the diner with the kind of uncertainty you just can’t fake.

When her eyes landed on our booth, something changed in her expression.

It wasn’t relief. It wasn’t recognition, either. It was something heavier, like she had rehearsed this moment, but still wasn’t ready for it.

She walked toward us slowly, her steps careful and measured.

She stopped just beside the table, keeping a polite distance.

“Can I help you?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral.

“My name is Jennifer,” she said, nodding once. “You must be Raymond and Ted. I was Rick’s…

therapist.”

Ted shifted beside me. His posture tightened. I felt it more than I saw it.

“I need to tell you something important,” Jennifer said.

I gestured to the empty seat across from us.

“Please, sit down.”

She lowered herself into the booth with a kind of careful grace, as if the very act of sitting might set off something fragile.

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