"Deal-Breaker," by Allegra Goodman

"Pam is seeing someone, but she's not talking about it. Of course, her friends know, but she has not told her parents or her sister, Wendy. She would tell her father, Charles, because he doesn't pry, but then he would tell her mother, Helen. As for Wendy, she can't keep a secret from anyone, Helen least of all. If Helen knew, she would pester and pass judgment, so Pam is keeping John from her. She's done being judged. Well, almost done. She's working on it."

"John is not Jewish. For Helen, that's a deal-breaker-but this isn't Helen's deal to break! He is not young, but, at fifty-six, Pam is not young, either. He is mostly bald. His knees are bad. He's heavy, and he has a little twitch when he is nervous, a slight blink of his left eye. He's shy, soft-spoken, and divorced, which, in Helen's mind, is a moral failing. Helen would never say it, but Pam knows what she thinks."

Pam is secretly dating John and deliberately keeps the relationship from her mother and sister to avoid criticism and gossip. John is fifty-six, mostly bald, heavy, with bad knees and a slight nervous twitch, and he is divorced and not Jewish—traits likely to provoke Helen's disapproval. Pam and John share professions as lawyers, enjoy black coffee and jazz, and find comfort in each other's company; his physical warmth and openness counter Pam's reserve. John loves animals and keeps a photograph of his late cat; Pam still mourns her cat Shadow. Their weekends are spent together in Providence or Jamaica Plain.

Read at The New Yorker