Read Crossing the Bridge for Free Online Page B

could stay with for the long run. She never struck me as casual about anything, especially her affections.
    Through the entire Joni Mitchell set, neither of us spoke. When the band went back to playing an original composition that they announced as their last song, Iris turned toward me again.
    “When are you heading back?”
    “I’ll probably stick it out through the weekend.”
    “I’m going back to Lenox tomorrow afternoon. A lot of stuff seems to happen with the Ensemble on the weekends and I need to be there just in case.”
    “Wow. I’ve never had a job that I would build my nonworking hours around.”
    Iris finished her beer, turned to look for our waitress, and then seemed to think better of it.
    “There are a lot of talented people in the group and they do good work. I’ve gotten caught up in the whole thing.”
    “In other words you actually care about the fate of the people you work for.”

    “Yeah, of course.”
    I shook my head. “That’s like Sanskrit to me.”
    She laughed. “Gotta care about something.”
    “That much I understand. That this something would be a job is the part that’s hard for me to connect with. Do you want some coffee or something?”
    Iris looked at her watch. “I should probably get going pretty soon. My mother gets up at a ridiculously early hour, and even though she ‘tries to let me sleep,’ she’s not exactly light on her feet.”
    I took a final swallow of my beer and we left the bar. The early spring warmth had taken its predictable turn toward late evening chill while we were in there and Iris rubbed her arms as we walked to her car. I wished I had worn a jacket so I could put it over her shoulders.
    “This was really good,” she said as she got to her car door and then turned to face me.
    “Really good,” I said. “I’ve missed you.”
    She smiled and cocked her head. “Yeah, I’ve missed you, too. I didn’t even realize it until I saw you last night. But I have.”
    I knew she was cold and I knew I should let her get into her car, but I wanted to prolong the moment.
    “You’re going back to Lenox tomorrow afternoon?”
    “Gotta.”
    I nodded. “Let’s not lose touch, okay?”
    “Hey, you’re the one who’ll be heading off to Ixtapa or Duluth or something,” she said, laughing.
    “I know, but I really don’t want to lose touch. Is that okay?”

    “Yeah, it’s okay.”
    And then she moved toward me. At first, I thought she was going to hug me, so I wasn’t prepared when her lips came up to join mine. Just as I wasn’t prepared for how the kiss made me feel – undeniably grounded, riveted in the moment. It was a very different kiss from our first one. Then, there was something illicit to it, something that needed to be said, if only in a whisper. This kiss carried with it no such qualifications. This was a kiss with an undetermined result, a kiss with unknowable consequences.
    All of these thoughts passed through my mind in milliseconds and then were replaced by an unyielding need to feel this moment. I pulled Iris toward me and returned the kiss hungrily as she molded herself to me naturally. I stroked her hair gently as we continued and I realized that there was very little in my romantic history to compare to what was happening just now. It was no longer cold outside. It was no longer Connecticut outside. I could very easily have stayed in this space, doing precisely this, indefinitely.
    But then Iris pulled back slowly. Caught in the ardor of the moment, I moved with her, but relented when it became clear that she wanted to stop. Even in the spotty streetlight, I could tell that her face was flushed. She brushed her hair back from her face and smiled at me with an expression that I interpreted as amazement.
    “Gotta get my wits about me,” she said, which wasn’t what I would have scripted for her. Her car keys had been in her hand the entire time and now she quickly snapped the remote behind her to unlock
her door. Before getting