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“I guess we’re having pomegranate and…” she surveys the counter filled with fruit “…bananas.”
“Do you know how long it took me to deseed that pomegranate? What makes you think I’m willing to share it?”
She plucks two slate blue bowls from the floating shelf by the stove. “I’ll replace your deseeded pomegranate. I love deseeding them. It’s meditative, don’t you think?”
“You mean frustrating?” I hand her a spoon.
She deposits seeds into each bowl and uses the spoon to cut the banana. I love watching her do things. Her soothing motions and gracefulness have stuck with me all these years. I could watch her do anything, and it would lull me into a peaceful state.
“Can we eat on your sofa?”
I look back at the sofa as if I forgot I had one. “Sure.”
Scottie plops into the corner with her feet tucked beneath her. “So I had something really embarrassing happen to me yesterday.” She takes a bite of fruit and grins while chewing it.
I don’t care what happened. As long as it keeps that grin on her face, that’s all that matters.
“At the store?”
She shakes her head and swallows. “After the shop closed, I walked with a friend and his dog. We played fetch in the park, which can be tricky at night because the park isn’t well-lit, but he had a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee. I became a little obsessed with trying to catch the Frisbee before the dog, and on the last throw, he tossed it in a different direction to give me a head start. Then he yelled for me to stop, but I was already airborne to catch the Frisbee, and I landed in a pond.”
God. She’s so beautiful.
I laugh because it’s funny, but also because her laughter is contagious.
She shakes in a fit of giggles. “B-but I caught it.”
I try to swallow but nearly choke as I picture her landing in the pond. “That’s all that matters.”
She tells me the rest of the story with animated expressions that captivate me, like everything else about her. By the end, she has tears streaming down her face, and I’m not far off.
I wonder if this guy, herfriend, knows how lucky he is to experience absolutely anything with her. Countless memories of our summer together have permanent space in my mind.
Those memories are why I’m in Austin.
When the laughter dies, we start to speak at the same time. And we say the exact same words. “Remember when we?—”
I grin. “You go first.”
“Remember when we planned thatoutdoorsurprise party for your dad, which ended in a torrential downpour?”
I nod. And we spend the next two hours reminiscing. She has no idea how much she’s influenced my life.
“I should go. I’m sure you’re exhausted,” she says.
I stifle my yawn, but her frown confirms she doesn’t miss it.
“I’ll report for five o’clock duty tomorrow. Do you think I’m ready?” I ask, walking her to the door.
“Of course. You rise to every occasion like a phoenix in the Arabian Desert.”
With a chuckle, I open the door.
She slips her feet into her shoes. “This was fun.”
I rub my arms as the cool breeze barges into the entry. “It was.”
She presses her lips together and eyes me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she’s waiting for me to kiss her goodnight. But I do know better.
