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dressed a little more casually than they did during the week. We started to walk and ended up near the park at a vendor. Cooper stared at me. “I might be a lowly intern, but I can afford more than a pretzel for lunch.”
    I laughed at him. “I happen to like these.” So two pretzels later, we found a bench seat and started to eat our lunch.
    Cooper was thoughtful as he ate, looking around. “I love this city,” he said.
    “Me too,” I said, and smiled when I looked at him. “It has a hum, an energy, doesn’t it?”
    He nodded. “Yeah, it does. But”—he shrugged—“you’ll probably think I’m crazy, but you wanna know what I love about New York?” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe he was about to admit something. “I love the skyscrapers. I love the glass and steel, I love the purpose this city has. I love how the new buildings integrate with the old ones. I love the history and the modern, I mean some of these buildings are works of art…”
    I stared at him, and he stopped talking and blushed, ducking his head. “See? Told you you’d think I was crazy.”
    I shook my head slowly. “I love that too,” I said quietly. “Everything you said, that’s what I love about it too.” I shook my head, a little perplexed that this man, this man half my age, understood me.
    Cooper smiled and looked down at the half-eaten pretzel in his hand. “I’ve never told anyone that.”
    I laughed nervously. “I’ve told people, but they’ve never really understood me.”
    He looked at me then and neither one of us spoke. I just stared at him—wondering what on earth it was about him that intrigued me so much—and right there, in a city of millions with the noise of people and cars and buzzing past us, we sat in silence and had ourselves a moment.
    He looked back down at his hands, with tinted cheeks, and exhaled as though looking at me had rendered him unable to breathe.
    I liked that more than I should. “Come on,” I said, standing up. “I want to show you something.”
    He stood up, threw the rest of his lunch in the bin and looked at me with keen eyes. “What is it?”
    “This way,” I said, walking in a different direction than the way we’d come. Two blocks over, I pointed up. “See that?” It was a nondescript commercial building, dwarfed by the taller buildings beside it. Usually overlooked by passers-by, it wasn’t the biggest or the grandest, but it was a classic building that any decent architect would appreciate for its subtlety.
    “The Crawson building?”
    I nodded. “I did that.”
    Cooper’s eyes widened. “Really? I mean, I’m not doubting you…it’s just…wow.”
    I laughed. “Yes, really. Complete retrofit. Exterior façade to replicate the existing, even enhance the history of the building, but its interior is something else. You should see it. It’s classic art-deco design but completely sustainable.” I showed him the cubic forms, the strong sense of lines, the sleek curving forms and illusion of pillars.
    When I finally stopped talking, I looked at Cooper to find he wasn’t even looking at the building. He was staring at me. “Can you show me?”
    “Inside the building?”
    He shook his head. “No, show me how you draw. I want to be able to do that.”
    “Oh.”
    “Will you show me? I want to learn, I want to see things how you see them.”
    I looked at him again, and he stared straight back at me. His eyes never faltered, never strayed from mine. All I could do was nod. “Yes.”
    He smiled magnificently. “No time like the present.”
    We started to walk back to my apartment. “Are you sure you don’t have anywhere else you’d rather be?” I asked. “Working with me on a Sunday is hardly anyone’s idea of fun.”
    “Well, I’m not anyone,” he said brightly. “I happen to enjoy it.”
    “I’m glad you do,” I replied.
    The rest of the walk back to my place was quiet, but as soon as we were inside, he pulled his chair next to mine at the