I Handed My Jacket to a Woman in the Cold, and Two Weeks Later a Velvet Box Turned My World Upside Down

in me with sudden clarity: It is freezing. You’re uncomfortable, and you have layers. She has almost nothing.

I’d be waiting ten minutes for the bus later anyway. Ten minutes of shivering wouldn’t kill me.

Before my brain could start arguing, I unzipped my jacket and shrugged it off.

The air hit my arms immediately, and I sucked in a breath, but I pushed through it, holding the jacket out toward her like an offering I didn’t have time to second-guess.

“You should take this,” I said. “At least until

.