They had met five years earlier on a sunny day in June when their orders were switched accidentally at the window of a food truck. They struck up a conversation as they swapped the cardboard trays, and taking up space on a nearby bench, they got to know one another. In between bites of her cheeseburger with extra pickles, Ruby talked about her work with the Massachusetts Archives Division, a job she had held since moving from the state of Washington four years before. Doreen worked for the City of Boston in the permitting and licensing department. And after wolfing down her hamburger with onions, while Doreen munched on her cheese fries, she, too, admitted she was a transplant to the area. Originally from Vermont, she moved south when her fiancée took a job at the Boston Logan International Airport. Unfortunately, their spring wedding turned into a spring divorce the following year, and while her ex moved away with his next conquest, Doreen remained behind, as comfortable with the city she now called home as the job that paid her bills.

Once they disposed of their trays in a nearby bin, they exchanged phone numbers, and their friendship grew from there. With Ruby’s office a few blocks away from city hall, at least once a week, she’d make the trip to the food trucks where she’d meet up with Doreen, and they’d spend their allotted hour, filling each other in about their week while gobbling down their lunch.

Ruby made no secret of her homosexuality, and Doreen made no secret of her heterosexuality. It was something that made them both laugh more than once when one would peruse the people milling about, intent on finding a perfect partner for the other. It was all in good fun, and it was one of the many threads that held their friendship together. No matter what, they could always make the other laugh. If Doreen was sick, Ruby was there with soup and Kleenex, and when one of Ruby’s migraines would cause her to miss work for a few days, Doreen was a text away, knowing Ruby needed peace and darkness but still willing to drop everything if her friend needed help. They acted as each other’s wingmen in bars and clubs, leaving without saying a word if the night was going well, yet intruding if it wasn’t. And when Ruby insisted on finding an apartment in a brownstone, Doreen listened to her rants and raves about the ridiculous rent required until Ruby found this one.