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You now, I showed up.
I didn’t expect to hear that from him.
And I wasn’t sure how to respond.
Well, Joe, I waited.
I waited to the point where I was getting yelled at!
And even then…
Joe came back to the kitchen with an old shoebox.
He flipped off a ripped and taped lid.
“Proof,” he said. “I saved everything I could.”
I peered into the shoebox and sucked in a breath.
“A shoebox of memories,” I whispered. “Our memories.”
“I’ve always loved you, Anna.”
My eyes moved to meet his.
I pushed the shoebox away.
Joe lifted an eyebrow.
“You showed up? When?”
Joe smirked. “The shoebox does nothing. Damn, baby, you are like no person I’ve ever met.”
“It not that it does nothing, Joe. It means a lot to me. I have the memories too. You have the ticket stub to a movie. I have the memory of it. Getting ten minutes into the movie and then you made a move. And I made an even wilder move.”
“Then we got escorted out. Your face was bright red.”
“And you were the one who said we needed to bolt for the exit so they didn’t call the cops.”
He laughed. “I dropped a piece of a popcorn that was stuck to my shirt and I thought they’d find DNA on it and track me down. You were terrified for about three days, Anna.”
I took another bite of the delicious French toast.
Then took a deep breath.
“You didn’t show up, Joe,” I said. “You think you did. But you didn’t.”
“I did show up, baby. Don’t ever say that I didn’t.”
Anger washed across his face.
I shook my head. “You knew. We both knew.”
“My piece of shit truck was giving me a hard time.”
“And, what? That was your sign? The universe telling you we didn’t belong together?”
“You were already gone, Anna. Up here…” Joe touched the side of his head. “I couldn’t do a thing. I wouldn’t do a thing either. Why would I ruin that for you? Those dreams in your eyes, baby…”
