A moment later, he was standing in front of her, a paper cup in hand.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” he asked, a little breathless from the cold and exercise.
“Oh,” she said, her voice sounding equally weightless, “I’m here to watch Liam.” She waved one soggy mitten in her boyfriend’s direction.
Ren’s eyes flickered to Liam with a dubious look. “You’re not cold?”
“Only from sitting still so long.”
“Here.” Ren handed her the cup. Of course it was meant for her; never underestimate Ren’s ability to surprise you with kindness.
“So Rene Durand,” she said, “playing sports. I thought I was hallucinating.”
He laughed. “You may have been. I’m new to the team, and I guess they play inside in winter, which sounds a lot better.” Ren grinned and gestured at the drifting flurries. “But it’s good to be doing something active. I spend too much time at a computer these days.”
“So what are you up to that keeps you chained to a desk?”
“Journalist.Toronto Star. I go out in the field for stories, but I’m at my desk more often than not. Right now I’m on the city beat, which means lots of waiting around for something interesting to happen and exaggerating the boring stuff to fill the page.”
“Sorry that our criminal underworld is so disappointing.”
He grinned. “Yeah. I thought being a reporter would be more like traveling the world by camel or interviewing biker gangs…”
“Like Hunter S. Thompson with fewer drugs.”
“That’s just what I put in my job application.”
They smiled at each other. It felt like their old university banter: the nerdy references and dry teasing.
“And you? What are you up to?” he asked.
Sarah inwardly sighed at how boring her life was. “I do art direction at a magazine and take headshots. I haven’t launched the dazzling career as a photographer that I envisioned for myself.”
“And Liam is your boyfriend…?”
Again, a hint of doubt in her taste. She felt defensive, as she always had with Ren. “He’s nice, actually. He’s a doctor.”
Ren nodded once, unsmiling.
“He’s a good guy,” she insisted. “Remember that time when you talked to me about Ivan not giving me his coat? You probably don’t remember that.”
“I remember.” Ren’s gaze was intense.
“What you said actually had an effect on me. I stopped dating jerks. Liam isn’t the kind of person who wouldn’t notice if I was cold.” It occurred to her that Liam was literally keeping her out in the cold right then, but that was different; he never kept her awake crying all night. He was pleasant and affectionate when he was available, which wasn’t always. “He works in emergency medicine.”
“Are you going to marry him?”
The question surprised her. “It’s still pretty new. We’ve only been together a couple of years.”
Sarah could hear how that sounded as soon as the words left her lips. Liam had been very insistent that they not rush things. He was very busy, much too busy to discuss getting married, let alone planning for a wedding. Maybe his schedule would clear up some point. Just not this year. Probably not next year, either.
“I got married, actually,” Ren said.
She tried to keep too much shock from her face. “Are you kidding? That’s great!”
“Yeah.” He looked abashed, one hand rubbing at the back of his neck. “She’s an intellectual property lawyer. Grew up in Nevada. She does music licensing.”
“She sounds brilliant.”
