The tension had been sitting between us all day. "Can we talk about what happened?" I asked gently. She set down her cup and nodded.
I saw the hurt flicker across her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," I said. She softened when she saw I meant it.
Both of us were tired and a little raw. "Let's not turn this into a fight," I said. She agreed, and the heat drained away.
Nothing added up the way either of us expected. "I think there's been a misunderstanding," I said. We slowly pieced together what went wrong.
We had said everything that needed saying. "Okay — let's put this behind us," I said. She smiled, and the weight finally lifted.