Someone left a fake "reserved" sign on Charles's chair.
But laughing something off and not feeling it are two different things, and most nights I drove home turning them over, wondering if I had really become the office joke.
Charles never seemed to notice, or if he did, he never let it touch him.
One day, after a particularly loud round of comments from a table near us, I asked him:
"Doesn't it bother you? What they say?"
He took a slow sip of his coffee before answering.
Charles never seemed to notice.
"People are loudest when they don't understand what quiet is worth."
***
I didn't fully understand what he meant.
Not then.
The years moved the way years do when you're not paying attention to them.
I got promoted.
Charles bought a cupcake from the gas station down the street and slid it across the table that afternoon. No card. No fuss.
