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Lily: We’re your support system.

Me: Same thing.

I tuck my phone into my bag, feeling lighter than I have all week.

Saturday.

Coffee.

Not a date.

Potentially a date.

Whatever.

I’ve got two days.

Plenty of time to be normal about it.

I make it approximately twelve seconds.

Then I pull my phone back out and open my calendar app.

SATURDAY, SIDE QUEST: COFFEE WITH CHRISTOPHER

I stare at it.

Then grin and add:

OBJECTIVES: 1. Make him smile. 2. Learn three personal facts. 3. Determine whether this is secretly a date. 4. Do not fall in love with a grumpy air traffic controller.

I consider number four.

Seems reasonable.

Easy, even.

I save the event.

Then my phone buzzes with a text from an unfamiliar number, and my heart does something ridiculous before I even open it, like it already knows.

Unknown: This is Christopher. Rick gave me your number after I asked him to.

Another message appears, immediate, no hesitation.

Christopher: Saturday. 1000. I’ll send you the location.

I bite my lip, grinning at my own phone like a teenager.

Me: Look at you texting in military time.

Christopher: That’s normal time.

Me: For Batman.

There’s a pause, long enough that I picture him rolling his eyes somewhere in a control tower, surrounded by radar screens and dry humor he refuses to admit to.

Christopher: Have you eaten lunch?