Page 57 of Paradigm

“Second first?” Eline asked with a little laugh.

“Yeah, a second first date where I pick you up, we go somewhere together, and if I’m lucky, you let me hold your hand and maybe I get to kiss you goodnight.”

“So, I’m not getting a kiss tonight?”

Arlowe smiled and said, “No. We’re doing this right.”

“Okay. Can we go out tomorrow night?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Now that we’re talking about kissing, I want to go out on that second first date as soon as possible.” Eline took the letter that Arlowe still held out. “And I want us to put this behind us.”

“On your right,” a voice said.

Arlowe turned her head just in time to see a man in a tank top and running shorts about to breeze past them. Before she could do anything, he whooshed by them, and the letter that Eline now held not so tightly lifted into the air. The man was gone a second later, but so was the letter, and Arlowe’s eyes followed it as it was carried by the whoosh and the night breeze straight down the small bank, where it more rolled into the water. There, it seemed to rest almost peacefully on the lake’s surface.

“Oh, my God!” Eline exclaimed and made a move to run down the bank, but Arlowe pulled her back.

“What are you going to do, swim for it?”

“I need to get it. Arlowe, it’s–”

“Gone,” she said, watching the paper soak through in the lights that lined the water. “It’s gone.”

Eline turned back to her then and said, “I am so sorry. I can’t believe that just happened. I wasn’t holding on tightly enough. You’ve had it for so long, and I held it for three seconds and–”

Arlowe smiled at her and said, “It’s okay.”

“You’ve held on to it all this time.”

“And I still have it in my phone, but maybe… maybe this was supposed to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wanted to let go of the past, right? I’ve been carrying that thing around for years, but you’re here now. I don’t need it anymore,” she said.

“Tomorrow night?” Eline asked.

Arlowe nodded and replied, “I’ll pick you up.”

“Want to keep walking now?”

“I do, but…”

“But what?”

“I think I’d end up trying to take your hand or pull you into me for that kiss. I’m trying to do this right, but you know I don’t have much self-control when it comes to you… So, maybe I’ll go home and start thinking about what we’re going to do tomorrow night,” Arlowe said.

“Walk me to my car?”

Arlowe nodded in the direction of the first exit off the path, and they walked in silence until they arrived at the parking lot, where Eline pointed them in the direction of her car. When they got to it, Arlowe opened the door after Eline unlocked it, and they stood there, not saying anything for a long moment before Eline moved between the car and its open door.

“Drive safe,” Arlowe said.

“I will. You too.”

“Text me when you get home?”