Page 158 - In Five Years

I think about his promise on the street corner. I always believed it was just
Bella and me. There was no one she could count on but me. There was no one
who would really be there, forever, but me.
“Not if they’ll eventually leave,” I say.

Aaron keeps hovering closer. “I think you’re wrong.”
“I think you don’t know,” I say. I’m starting to believe it was a mistake

calling him. What was I thinking?
He shakes his head. “You mistake love. You think it has to have a future in
order to matter, but it doesn’t. It’s the only thing that does not need to become at
all. It matters only insofar as it exists. Here. Now. Love doesn’t require a future.”

Our eyes lock, and I think that maybe he can read it there. Everything that
happened. That maybe, somehow, he has reached back. That he knows. In that

moment, I want to tell. I want to tell him, if only so he can carry this thing with
me.
“Aaron,” I start, and then his cell phone rings. He takes it out.

“It’s work,” he says. “Hang on.”
He stands up and leaves the booth. I see him gesturing out by the glass doors
emblazoned with the diner’s name: Daddy’s. The waitress comes over. Do we

want any food? I shake my head. Just the check, please.
She hands me the bill. She hadn’t expected us to stick around, I guess. I leave
cash on the table and get my bag. I join Aaron at the door, where he’s hanging

up.
“Sorry about that,” he says.
“It’s okay. I’m going to head out. I should go back to the office.”

“It’s Saturday,” he says.
“Corporate law,” I mutter. “And I’ve been gone a lot.”
He gives me a small smile. He looks disappointed.

“Thank you for meeting me,” I say. “Really, thanks for showing up. I
appreciate it.”
“Of course,” he says. “Dannie—you can call me anytime. You know that,

right?”
I smile. I nod.
The bells on the door jingle on my way out.