If I'd Been Braver

They found each other by the bar, twenty years after leaving school. Hugo had recognized her laugh from across the room.

“Renata,” he said. “You haven’t changed.”

“That’s a lie, but thank you,” she said, smiling. “What do you do now?”

“I’m a lawyer. In Lisbon.” He turned his glass slowly. “And you became a doctor. I always knew you would.”

“I almost didn’t,” she said. “If my father hadn’t pushed me, I’d have given up after the first year. It was so hard.”

Hugo nodded. There was a small silence.

“You know,” he said, “I was going to study medicine too. We talked about it once, do you remember? On the bus.”

“I remember,” she said quietly.

“If I’d applied that year, we might have ended up at the same university.”

“And then what?” she asked. She was still smiling, but her eyes were careful now.

“I don’t know. Things would have been different, that’s all.” He looked at her. “If I’d been braver, I think I would have told you how I felt back then.”

Renata looked down at her drink. “If you’d told me,” she said, “I’d have said yes.”

For a moment neither of them spoke. Then she touched his arm, the way old friends do, and the moment passed.

“It’s good to see you, Hugo,” she said. “Come on. They’re calling everyone for the photo.”