He smiles. “It’s been a long time.”
“Too long,” I say.
Haru glances at the envelope. He turns it a little, as if noticing the details. “You’ve been back to Japan since we met?”
I shake my head. “No, I haven’t.”
He turns the envelope to show me something. “This is from my family’s store in Osaka. It’s the same washi we use. The flower on the corner is ours.”
Haru lets go of the envelope, allowing me to see better. “It’s from my sister. She sent them to me,” I say. “But she went there a long time ago. The summer before I visited.”
“She must have stopped by the store,” he says, placing his hands in his pockets. “If it was in the summer, maybe we met.”
I never imagined this possibility. The two of them meeting long before. I stare at the letter and back at Haru. Maybe I’ve been given another chance. I wonder if he’s thinking this, too. “Do you want to, uh, get coffee or something?”
Haru smiles again. “I would like that.”
I can’t believe this.Here you are, right in front of me.I manage to stay composed and say, “There’s a place not too far from here. We could grab a bite to eat, too. How long are you in New York?”
“The whole summer,” Haru says. “What about you?”
“Me, too.”
The subway train roars in behind me, blowing air up from the tracks, ruffling our hair. The doors slide open, but neither of us gets on. We stand there, on the same side of the platform, looking at each other. The letter is held tight in my hand. My mind goes back to the beginning again.
I think I finally got my wish.
