Returned With Notes
romanceEveryoneWe finish the book one chapter at a time. Their notes get longer. So do mine. Chapter 20, they write: 'You read people the way you read books. Too generous.' Me, under it: 'Nobody's ever accused me of that before.' Then I reach the last page — past 'The End' — and there's a full paragraph in blue, waiting. It starts with: 'Okay. The book is finished, so here's the truth I owe you.'
The paragraph says: 'I moved here after everything fell apart and didn't talk to anyone for two months. Then a stranger's margins made me laugh in a public park. I wrote back because your notes sounded like a friend. I'd like to hear one out loud. Bench by the box, any Saturday, 10am. I'll be the one holding OUR book.' It's Thursday. Saturday at 9:41, I'm already on the bench. At 9:52, so are they. Neither of us admits we came early. Both of us keep coming back.