“That’s not what I said,” he said, and she retorted in a shot, “Yes, it is.”

Both asserted it with concrete insistence, reminding him of a conversation they’d had earlier, where the roles were reversed, and she was claiming, “That’s not what I said,” and he was retorting, “Yes, it is.”

It made him wonder and want a time machine, just something small, to wind back the seconds so he could see and hear.

Maybe then, he’d understand.