The evening spent beside someone can matter without producing a memorable conversation.

Closeness is not built only out of good talk. A great deal of it collects in rooms where two people read, cook, or watch something ordinary, and afterwards there is nothing to report. Judging time together by whether anything memorable was said will make most of your best hours look wasted. Company is a thing in itself, not raw material for conversation.

Give an evening to being in the same room as someone with no plan for it. Notice afterwards whether the quiet felt empty or comfortable, and let that tell you more than a transcript would.