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I had no idea what else Anna wanted from me before signing off on me getting back to the hockey rink for real.
Even if there was something between me and her, I wasn’t going to vanish.
After all, she was the one who was good at just vanishing.
The last thing I needed was the past creeping up on me.
All those horrible thoughts and feelings all at once.
I paused at another street corner and looked across the street.
There was a concrete pier next to a small ice cream stand.
In the faint baby-blue neon light from the ice cream stand I saw Anna.
Wearing jean shorts and a hoodie.
Her hair was down and being thrown all around by the breeze coming from the ocean.
She reached up and began to pull her hair back.
Some kind plastic clip stuck between her lips, like sideways lips of a duck.
I crossed the street, eyes glued to her as she wrestled her hair back and clipped it.
A few rebellious strands still played in the wind.
She didn’t seem to mind.
She slid her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie and spotted me.
I watched the way her face changed.
Surprised? Excited? Terrified?
I approached her and she turned to face the ocean.
I stepped up next to her.
She looked at me.
“Now what?” I asked.
“You wanted to see me.”
“Is this professional or for fun?” I asked.
“Joe. This is a problem.”
“It’s been a problem from the second you saw my name and didn’t do a thing to change who I was talking to.”
“Do you have anything to talk to me about? Professionally?”
“What if I say I don’t? What if I say I just want to be here with you? I want to just have this moment?”
“I should walk away then,” she said. “I should tell you we cannot see each other unless it’s in a professional setting. Like my office.”
“Or a hotel room?”
