“All right, you two, I think I’ve got what I need, and we should get back before it gets too much darker.” She snapped her lens cap on and draped the camera strap around her neck. “I’ll show you a few of my favorites when we get back to the parking lot.”
We let her lead this time, and even without the camera on us, Jericho and I gravitated together until his fingers hooked in mine. It felt natural, like we’d been doing it for ages.
I planned to enjoy it for as long as it lasted.
Back in the parking lot, Jericho’s brow crinkled when he saw only his truck and Sadie’s rental.
“You didn’t drive?” he asked.
“No, my neighbor dropped me off. She said she didn’t trust me not to chicken out at the last minute if I drove myself. I planned to text her to come get me, but if you still wanted to come meet Murph—”
“Yes!” he said quickly. “I can give you a ride.”
Sadie gestured us over to where she was perched on the hood of her car. “Come here, let me show you these.”
Jericho and I broke apart and leaned in on either side of her while she flipped slowly between the last couple of pictures she’d taken at the bridge. She’d captured the exact moment our lips met, backlit by the setting sun and framed by the bridge, and I knew that was a memory I’d keep for a very long time.
With the promise to send us the final files in a few weeks, and wishes of safe travels all around, Sadie slid into her car and headed down the drive toward the road. She waved out the open window,and then we were alone.
“So. Murph,” Jericho said. He tugged his keys out of his back pocket and jingled them like I was a cat he was trying to lure in.
I snickered. “Yeah. I’ll give you directions.”
Once we were out on the road, I discretely shot a text to Maura to let her know I didn’t need her to come get me. I begged her to stay in her apartment and let us get into mine without interruption. She responded with just two emojis: wide eyes, and the grinning devil. I wasn’t sure whether that was an affirmative or not.
Lucky for me, we arrived to an empty hallway. No Maura in sight, though I knew she was plastered against the peep hole on her door, breathing heavily as she watched me unlock mine and usher Jericho inside with haste. She’d barge in before the night ended to get all the details. I only hoped she’d wait until he was gone.
I flicked on the lights when I stepped inside behind him, and he gasped when Murph hopped into view around the couch.
“Oh mygods, he’s so small! I know you said he was small, but I still wasn’t expecting him to be solittle!”
I chuckled and scooped the white and orange rabbit up. “He’s average for his breed,” I said, which only made Jericho giggle.
He reached out a tentative hand and let Murph sniff his fingertips before rubbing his fluffy cheek. A grin spread wide on his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes and the bridge of his nose.
“He’s so soft.”
“He’s an excellent snuggler, too.” I held Murph out to him. “You want to hold him?”
Jericho nodded quickly and stood still as a statue while I situated the rabbit in his arms. And when Murph nudged his hand to ask for pets, I swore Jericho’s lip wobbled.
I guided him to the couch, and he waited for me to settle before tucking himself under my arm so he could lean against me. Murph wriggled and shifted until he could flop in Jericho’s lap and dangle his back feet into mine.
“I wish I had his chill,” Jericho said with a chuckle.
“You and me both.”
He stroked Murph’s head between his ears. “Thanks for letting me meet him. And, you know, for signing up for the stranger session so I could meet you, too.” He tipped his head back to look up at me. “I know neither of us is here for much longer, but I’m glad we did this.”
“So am I.”
We spent the next hour comparing moving plans and dates, and commiserating about the stresses of ending one chapter to start another. He was going home, and I was off to a state I’d never even visited before. Two very different adventures in very different places, and a shame they weren’t closer together. I was glad to have had the chance to get to know him, even just a little. We’d be new versions of ourselves soon, changed by the next parts of our individual stories, but with the way we collided today, I knew we’d take a piece of each other with us when we ricocheted off one another. Fond memories of a stranger who was, for a short time, not a stranger at all.
It was dark out by the time we called it a night. I walked Jericho to the door, Murph tucked under my arm, and we paused with the door swung wide.
“I had a good time with you today,” Jericho said, playing with Murph’s floppy ears.
“So did I.”
