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the bookshelf.
“You enjoy the rest of your visit there?”
    I nodded. “The best time of my life, I can’t wait to go back
someday. I never did get around to calling you. I was sort of in my own world.”
My hands suddenly felt like extra appendages; I tucked them into my back
pockets. “The whole trip was really ... important. And meeting you? It was cool
talking to someone I could relate to while I was in another country.” I stared
past his shoulders, recalling our conversation outside on the terrace that
morning. If he only knew the mess I was in now.
    “Something wrong?”
    I returned my attention to him, letting go of the
distraction. “No. I’m just shocked you remember me ,
let alone how strange it is, running into you again like this.”
    He nodded, his eyes fixed on mine. “Like I said, small world.”
    “Ahem.” Carol reared around the corner. “Is this a friend of
yours, Camille? Or one of our customers?” She asked sweetly, but glanced over
at the register where Gina stood, slumped over on the counter flipping through
a magazine, pretending she wasn’t watching us.
    “Both.” He’d spoken for me, the same phony sweetness in his
tone. I fought back a grin.
    “Ah, well, that’s great. We appreciate your business, dear.
But Camille,” she turned back toward me, “I think you should wrap it up, okay?
Mingle with the other customers.” She waddled off toward the stockroom. Our
eyes surveyed the empty store as she walked away.
    “Other customers?” He smirked, amused.
    “Yeah, that’s Carol for ya .”
    “So I see. Well, I’ll let you get back to work. It was nice
seeing you again though.” He grabbed the book he’d temporarily rested on the
shelf. “I’ll probably see you around again. I just started coming to this
place. It’s not like the chain stores, I like it.”
    I smiled up at him, secretly bummed he was leaving. “It was
nice seeing you too. I’ll see you around then.” I reluctantly turned to head
toward the register, but noticed that he stood still, a contemplative look on
his face. I stopped politely, waiting for whatever it was he had to say, hoping
it was more than just a question about the book he was holding.
    He opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. I stood there,
feeling stupid. “Would you ... want to go get coffee or see a movie sometime?”
He spit out the words, jumbling them up as if they were all one word. “If not I
understand--”
    “That’d be great.”
    “I can give you my number.... Are you free tonight by any
chance?”
    I shut my gaping jaw, not realizing it had been hanging
open. Could I do this? While I still had Andrew
to deal with? I couldn’t even imagine what a normal date would feel like right now. My mind began to analyze all of
the what-if scenarios.
    What the hell. “Sure. I get off around five. I have a friend
visiting though, would you mind coming to my place to pick me up? Maybe hang
out for a little bit before we go out? I feel rude leaving her there alone.”
    “That’ll be fine. Here’s my number.” He spoke eagerly,
moving toward me to grasp my hand. My heartbeat accelerated. He pulled a pen
from his pocket and began writing on the inside of my wrist. “Give me a call
when you get off and give me directions to your place.” He let go of my wrist
and turned for the front door. “I’ll see you tonight then.” He hung his head,
smiling warmly as he strolled off.
    I said “See ya ,” but wasn’t
certain if I’d said it quickly enough for him to hear. I was too overwhelmed
pondering this beautiful contradiction that had crossed my path not once, but
twice in my lifetime. I wanted to know of this shy, yet overtly confident dark
cloud that illuminated everything around him.
    A memory of the last image I remembered of him as he left me
in Paris flashed through my mind, and I realized Andrew would have to wait. I
had a life to move on with. It was clear that Paris not only changed my life
while I was there, but a small