Chapter 7

“She told me she didn’t think she’d be back. I never knew if I had a part in her not coming back. I don’t know. Maybe her father needed her. I walked with her out of the Park, and she hailed a cab. She had a flight in two hours and was heading to the airport.” Again I was there, on the sidewalk as the cab pulled up. She threw the suitcase in the back and turned to me. With a final hug, she apologized. I thanked her, but she said no. “I should not have done to you what I did.” Then she turned into the cab and she was gone.

“Did you love her?”

Mattie’s question was inevitable. Perhaps it was time and distance. Of her being my only lover. Or perhaps I knew it the moment her lips hit mine as she pushed my back against the apartment door.

“Yes.” I anticipated her follow-up. “And I still do.”

“Fuck. Sorry. You know you have to tell Dad, right?”

“Now I do.”