He has no business draping me in his reassurance. He doesn’t have the facts. Can’t see, as I can, the endless ways life can unravel. Still, I luxuriate in his careless smile, his shrugging faith in a benevolent future. The confidence doesn’t fit, but my god he wears it well.

Zoë is an American writer living in London. She publishes fiction about her adopted city every Friday on her Substack.