2018 Mar 27

10 minutes: At first, I didn't recognize her.

I didn't know how many years had passed. She looked familiar, but I was trying to figure out if she really was the same person. I thought she had moved to California, but there she was sitting in a booth with what looked like her two kids.

I finished my meal and got up to leave. I waved at them as I walked by.

"Courteney, is that you?" I was afraid she wouldn't recognize me, but she did.

She introduced her kids to me but I was never very good with names. Apparently her third child was at home with the grandparents. She invited me to sit down, and maybe catch up on old times.

I awkwardly declined, saying I had to return to the office. "I'll talk to you later," I said, waving goodbye.

But that was the last time I ever spoke to her, though I still think about what happened from time to time. She was a part of my past now and I suppose she realized the same thing. There wasn't much point reopening what would probably be old wounds, even if there was so much left unresolved.

I returned to my car lost in old memories of our time together and what had happened to each of us in our intervening years. We had both moved on, probably for the better. I wanted to believe she helped me become a better person.

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