I scoffed at that. Reina was anything but harmless, but still, I kept my mouth closed. Kira mistook my silence, assuming I’d dozed off. When she dismissed herself from the call, I let her, not having any desire to continue the conversation about her sister anyway.
I lie there in the dark reminiscing and thinking about the past and how different things might’ve been if Reina – and a host of other people and situations – hadn’t intervened. When I imagined someone familiar, someone other than Kira, standing beside me at the altar, I forced the thought aside and drifted off.
The second my alarm went off the next morning, I hit ‘snooze’ and acknowledged what day of the week it was…Wednesday.
It wasn’t lost on me that, today, the nice old guy who ran the kiosk down on the street was supposed to be doing me what had to seem like a very strange favor.
What if he forgets to give Sam my message?
What if she just chooses not to call?
I ignored the questions that came, opting not to dwell on them while I showered. I’d go about this day like it was any other day, because basically it was. The only difference being that I’d set something in motion a week ago that would either sink or swim come noon today.
While straightening my tie, I did all I could to ignore the guilt gnawing away at me. On the one hand, I couldn’t figure out why I was so pressed to talk to Sam, but on the other, I already knew the answer.
Every time my eyes drifted to the clock on the wall while I worked, I calculated how much time until she would stop at Giuseppe’s for her ‘usual’, only to find that there was more waiting for her than just a smoothie this time. The thought of putting myself out there like that made me both excited and sick at the same time. I couldn’t seem to just leave well enough alone when it came to her. Just like back in the day, it was like…like we had to have some sort of contact.
Not knowing her…
Not talking to her…
This simply wasn’t an option after she and I collided in the hallway our senior year. This time, I swore I wasn’t after anything more than her friendship.
At least…I was pretty sure that was all I wanted.
Chapter Eleven
Sam
My day started off so sucky that I was two seconds from calling Dr. Gill to cancel, instead opting to go back home and crawl into bed. However, when I got to Giuseppe’s kiosk ready to hand over what I owed him for my drink, things took a very interesting turn.
“No worries, Miss. Someone’s already paid for it,” Giuseppe said with a grin.
Confusion crossed my face as I looked around for whoever this mystery person was who’d covered my tab. When I didn’t see anyone standing nearby, I turned back to Giuseppe. “Huh?”
He laughed a little and pulled out a napkin from beneath the register. “The man who paid for your beverage also asked me to give you this.”
Okay, this is weird.
I accepted the napkin and had to read the name written across the top twice. Words came to my mind and left again so quickly that I was rendered speechless.
Giuseppe smiled when he saw my face. “You know him, yes?”
It took me a moment to snap out of my daze. “Uh….yeah. I do, actually.” I moved closer to the booth. “Where…I mean, how…?” I had to stop and laugh a little because none of this was making sense. “How did you get this?”
“Last week, after you paid me and walked off down the street, a gentleman rushed down from this building like it was on fire.” Giuseppe paused to laugh again while pointing toward the red, brick building behind me. “He tried to catch you, but you were gone already. When I told him that you’re here every Wednesday at this time, he paid for your smoothie and then asked me to give you this,” Giuseppe said, gesturing toward the napkin again.
I stood there with my mouth open, reading the digits, and the name written across top, over and over again. My heart fluttered like only AJ had ever been able to make it flutter. A burst of heat crawled up my back, ending with a smile on my lips that I hadn’t invited to take up residency there. Finally lifting my eyes to Giuseppe, I thanked him.