The friend who asks a follow-up gives yesterday’s story a place in today’s attention.

Conversations tend to reset each time. You mention the appointment, the difficult meeting, the thing you were dreading, and the next time you speak it has vanished from the record. Someone who asks how it went is doing more than being polite: they carried a piece of your life around in their head for a week. That is what makes a person feel known rather than merely liked.

Keep a short note of what people tell you, if your memory needs the help, and ask about one of those things this week. It takes ten seconds and it is very close to the whole of what friendship is made of.