Derek, the real-estate agent, was like a father figure to them. He’d tell them when to bid and when not to, write contracts up for them late at night. After three bidding wars, they bought a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house with a pool and wrap-around deck for $325,000, a fraction of what they would have paid in Long Beach. Their decision, if it was ever in question, was thoroughly validated.

Some adjustments have been necessary, of course. Kurtis was a little surprised to find drinking is somewhat frowned upon here. Not long after his arrival, Kurtis was told by a grocery-store clerk that he couldn’t buy beer on Sunday mornings. They hadn’t been going out as much, so they hadn’t made many friends. One young couple they met moved to Austin.

Still, they say, here, they can do all the same things they did in California, “minus the beach and the mountains.” (Which, to me, seems like the entire point of California, if you don’t count the mind-blowing restaurants, which McKinney is also not strong on.)

Already, Kurtis and Crystal feel more ideologically accepted. Right away, people here ask them what church they go to. At her first job here, there was a morning prayer, and Crystal seemed to find it refreshing. There were few Priuses or Obama bumper stickers around. Kurtis wore a “Trump” t-shirt outside, and no one honked angrily. They saved up their empty cans and bottles, then drove around in vain looking for a recycling center, which are ubiquitous in California. Eventually, they gave up and tossed it all in the garbage. “I guess we don’t recycle in Texas!” Kurtis said.

In Kurtis, I saw a mirror image of my own journey out of McKinney to Washington for college, where all the worldly things I had always craved were at my fingertips. A girl in my college orientation program was the niece of Helen Thomas, the legendary White House reporter. I had never so much as smoked a cigarette, but right away I became a regular at hookah bars. I choked down sushi and pretended to love it. It was all so new, but also so familiar to the image of myself I had always held in my heart. It was thrilling.

During our interview, I found myself smiling along with Kurtis and Crystal at the cozy sensation of being understood for the first time. (In my own hometown, no less!) Finding your own kind can feel like sinking into a warm bath on a cold day, with every inch of skin soothed by how good it feels.

When the interview was done, they asked me if I was thinking of moving back to McKinney, too. I almost didn’t have the heart to tell them no. Almost.

Chapter 14

In Between