Page 28 of Paradigm

“I doubt that.”

“Well, I’m older now. I’ve probably gained more than a few pounds, and I guess I live here and not near Amsterdam.”

“Eline, I’m serious.”

“So am I. I am pretty boring, just like I was back then. You probably just didn’t notice because I was always tagging along with you and your friends, appearing to be fun.”

Arlowe smiled softly and said, “You were fun. I had so much fun with you. I never wanted it to end.”

“Hi. What can I get for you?” their waitress asked as she set napkins down on their table.

“Can I get a piña colada?” Eline replied, smiling at Arlowe, who had to laugh at that.

“Can you make that two?” Arlowe added.

“Sure. Anything to eat?”

“Can you bring the menu?”

“No problem,” the woman replied and walked off.

“Have you eaten?” Arlowe asked.

“Honestly, no. I was too nervous,” Eline shared.

“Me too,” she admitted.

“And I’m sorry about the coffee thing. I was pretty nervous then, too. I didn’t know if I should greet you with a hug, a handshake, a kiss-on-the-cheek thing, or nothing at all, so I went with nothing at all, and it was awkward.”

Arlowe laughed a bit and replied, “Yeah, I didn’t know what to do, either.”

One of the things she’d always loved about this woman was her honesty. Eline hadn’t ever played games with her, nor had she hidden her feelings. They’d always been honest with one another, and Arlowe was glad to know that that very important thing hadn’t changed between them.

“You don’t have to apologize for it, though,” she added. “We both made things awkward.”

“Can I ask you something?” Eline said, leaning forward.

“Yeah.”

“Are you still mad at me? I want you to be honest, Arlowe. I need to know if–”

“I told you that I’m not,” she interjected. “I had to let the anger go. I’m not mad anymore. I’ve been confused and sad for a while, but not angry. Are you mad at me for not even trying to contact you?”

“No, I’m not. And I think I was before, but it was more that I was angry because I couldn’t deal with the other things I felt.”

“Like what?”

“Arlowe, I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” she said. “I didn’t want to be without you. You know that, right? Because what you put in your letter, about me not being able to figure this out even though I could figure out some code stuff, kind of made it seem like you didn’t know that.”

“No, I did. That was the anger hiding my pain. I know building a computer program isn’t the same as making a relationship work across an ocean.”

“If it were, I would’ve been great at it,” Arlowe joked. “I mean, I built a whole company with my friends, and that’s mostly my code running the thing.”

“Is this the part where you start bragging about what an amazing coder you are?” Eline chuckled. “You did that before, and it worked. Trying again?”

“What do you mean, it worked?” Arlowe laughed.