I’m standing behind the counter at the bodega on Sunday afternoon, trying to stay awake, when the bell at the front door rings and Graciela Muñoz walks in. She’s one of my parents’ old friends from church, and by the look of her outfit, that must be where she’s coming from now. I haven’t seen her in a while, but she looks just as I remember—her hair piled on top of her head, her big emerald earrings catching the light as she walks toward me.

“I heard about Ernesto and Adela,” she says to me, putting a hand on her chest. “How terrible!”

Graciela is one of the people we lost touch with when we stopped going to Sunday Mass. After Father Esteban started going off about how gay marriage was ruining society during service one day, Ma and Pa felt like a little distance from our church wouldn’t be the worst idea. They weren’t really sure what anyone else in the community would think if they found out I was gay, but I guess they were just afraid—afraid that someone might believe what Father Esteban had said, that people would make me feel unwelcome, that I’d feel different somehow. But now, here she is—Graciela, one of the many people we feared might judge me—talking about my parents as though no time has passed. Maybe we were wrong to leave the church. Maybe we didn’t have to put ourselves through that, but I guess it doesn’t really matter at this point.

Before I can even think of something to say, Graciela grabs my hand from over the counter and squeezes it. “How are you and your sister holding up? Come let me give you a hug.”

I almost tell her that I’m okay, that I should get back to work, but then, when she narrows her eyes at me, I come out from behind the counter and we hug. She holds me so tight that I’m unable to breathe for a second, and then I tell her everything. She nods along with a concerned look on her face, and just before she leaves, she tells me how much everyone at church was talking about Ma and Pa after Mass today.

“I hope they come back home,” she says. “When they do, you should all stop by the church. We miss you.”