“For what it’s worth,” Mrs. Wilt said, “I don’t think you’re broken.” Tanner felt her eyes sting once again, her nose tingle. “You don’t?” “No,” she said. “You’re just human like the rest of us.” Tanner let out a slow and quiet exhale as Mrs. Wilt said softly, mostly under her breath, “Aren’t we a pair?” It was a throwaway line, Tanner knew. Something people just said. But she clung on to the we like a drowning person to a life vest, taking solace in how it made her feel—like maybe she wasn’t so alone after all.
