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But horrible images touch me, bad stuff happening to her, with me sitting here, doing nothing to save her.
It’s myjobto save her.
“Elias?” Mary prompts.
“Okay.” I lean forward, lowering my voice. “Let’s say I have a friend. Call him Erik.”
Mary touches the intricate weave of her hair, then starts fiddling with her wedding ring. “Okay.”
“And let’s say this friend works at a college. He’s never been interested in any of the students before. He’s never been interested in any woman, really. But now he’s finally found somebody. He wants her. Needs her, you could say.”
There’s nocouldabout it, but I have to hold some of this back.
“She’s showing attraction toward him too. He doesn’t just want physical stuff. He doesn’t want to use her. He wants….”
“A relationship?” Mary says, looking at me closely, wearing her counselor face.
“Yeah. And he thinks she might too. Is that wrong?”
“How old is she?” Mary asks.
“Twenty,” I say.
Mary sits back. “And how long have you… hasErikbeen seeing her?”
I think back to the woman on the bus, the angel who glided by me, who changed everything.
“Roughly a week. But things are moving fast. In a good way. The best.”
Mary sits back, interlocking her fingers. I can imagine her sitting like this in her one-on-one counseling sessions and it’s difficult to tell what she’s thinking.
Whatever it is, it won’t change how I feel.
Nothing could do that.
But it might give me some perspective.
“This is a new feeling forErik, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I laugh gruffly. “You could even say….”
She doesn’t prompt me to keep talking, just keeps staring. It’s the sort of look which invites me to continue, which makes it difficultnotto continue.
“It’s the best feeling he’s ever experienced. He enjoys his job, but he’s not sure it’s worth keeping if it means he can’t even be with his woman.”
“His woman?” Mary asks. “That’s how he thinks of her already?”
I look at her flatly, refusing to mask this part. “Yes, it is.”
“Has he toldherthat?”
“No,” I admit. “He hasn’t.Ihaven’t. Screw the games, Mary.”
She nods, not missing a beat. “Why haven’t you told her?”
“Because she’d think I was crazy.”
“And this thought that this woman is yours after a week, do you think it makes you crazy?”
