Page 9 of Maybe in Another Life

It’s just Ethan and me alone out here now.

“You look a little bit cold,” he says as he sits down on the empty bench. “I’d offer you my shirt, but I’m not wearing anything underneath.”

“Might break the dress code,” I say. “I thought since I’m in L.A., I should wear a tank top, but...”

“But it’s February,” he says. “And this is Los Angeles, not the equator.”

“It’s crazy how new this city feels to me, even though I lived here for so long,” I tell him as I sit down next to him.

“Yeah, but you were eighteen when you left. You’re almost thirty now.”

“I prefer the termtwenty-nine,” I say.

He laughs. “It’s nice to have you back,” he says. “We haven’t lived in the same city for... I guess almost thirteen years.”

“Wow,” I say. “Now I feel even older than when you called me almost thirty.”

He laughs again. “How are you?” he asks me. “Are you well? Are you good?”

“I’m OK,” I say. “I have some things to work out.”

“You want to talk about them?”

“Maybe,” I say, smiling. “At some point?”

He nods. “I’d love to listen. At some point.”

“What’s going on with you and Katherine over there?” I ask. My voice is breezy. I’m trying to sound as if this is casual, and I’m pulling it off.

Ethan shakes his head. “No, no,” he says. “Nothing. She just started talking to me, and I was happy to entertain her.” He smiles at me. “She’s not who I came to see.”

We look at each other, neither one of us breaking the gaze. His eyes are on me, focused on my eyes, as if I am the only other person in the world. And I wonder if he looks at every woman that way.

And then he leans over and kisses me on the cheek.

The way it feels, his lips on my skin, makes me realize I have spent years looking for that feeling and never finding it. I have settled for casual flings, halfhearted love affairs, and a married man, searching for that moment when your heart jumps in your chest.

And I wonder if I should really kiss him, if I should turn my head ever so slightly and put my lips on his.

Gabby and Mark come through the door.

“Hey,” Gabby says, before staring at us. “Oh, sorry.”

“No,” I say. “Hey.”

Ethan laughs. “You’re Mark, right?” he says, getting up and shaking his hand. “Ethan. We didn’t formally meet earlier.”

“Yeah. Hey. Nice to meet you.”

“Sorry,” Gabby says. “We have to head out.”

“I just found out I have an early-morning thing,” Mark says.

“On a Sunday?” I ask him.

“Yeah, it’s this thing at work I have to do.”

I look at my watch. It’s after midnight.

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