They walked down the street with Priya in the middle, but it was hard to deny the tension crackling between Emily and Rob. It was like an ember had been glowing for years, and now someone was fanning it, blowing on it, waiting to see if it would burst into a roaring flame once more.
* * *
—
The three of them took seats on the PATH train.
“So how did you two meet?” Priya asked.
“Funny story,” Rob said. “I was sitting all alone one night in a folk music club my junior year of college, minding my own business, when this stunning woman comes over and asks me if I want to share her popcorn.”
Emily laughed. “Not true!” she said. “I walked into this folk music club my sophomore year of college, minding my own business, when this guy with the biggest smile I’d ever seen offers to buy me a drink. So I figured it was only fair to offer him some popcorn in return.”
“I think I offered to buy you the drink after you offered me the popcorn,” Rob said, winking at her.
“Well, if that’s what you need to tell yourself,” Emily said, “I won’t argue. But we both know the truth.”
“The truth that it was love at first sight?” Rob said, raising an eyebrow, Groucho Marx–style. He was joking but not joking. Teasing but being serious, too.
Emily was quiet for a moment, stopping the banter completely. “Yeah,” she said softly. “Maybe it was.”
* * *
—
When the PATH let them off at 33rd Street, Priya gave Emily a hug. “It was great to see you so happy tonight,” she whispered. “Be careful with him, though. He wants a lot from you.”
Emily hugged her back. “I will. Thank you for coming.”
Then Priya said good-bye to Rob and hailed a cab.
“Good night!” Rob and Emily chorused, as Priya shut the car door behind her. Then Rob looked at Emily. “Another slice, Queen? Or are you going to leave a stranger in this city to eat pizza all by his lonesome? One who might even end up at a terrible dollar-a-slice pizza joint, if left to his own devices?”
Emily shook her head at him, laughing at the same time. This night felt like a moment out of time where she could laugh and flirt and share her feelings through her fingers and her voice. It was a moment she didn’t want to lose quite yet. “Come on,” she said. “There’s a great pizza place not far from here. Don’t let anyone ever say New Yorkers aren’t friendly, staying up late to help a stranger in need find some pizza.”
As they walked, Rob lightly caught her hand with his. She didn’t stop him. And they walked to the pizza joint, fingers clasped, arms swinging, just like they used to.
xxx
Ezra’s parents rented a house on the Jersey Shore the summer after he and I started dating. We decided to spend Labor Day weekend with them out there before both our schedules got crazy again, when all the students came back to campus. We were walking along the beach at sunset and Ezra pointed toward a lifeguard stand. It was late enough that the lifeguards had gone home for the day, so the chair was empty.
“Let’s check out the view,” he said.
I looked up at the height of the chair. “I’m glad neither one of us is afraid of heights,” I answered.
He kicked off his sandals and so did I, and we climbed up the chair together, finding handholds and footholds where we could.
Ezra was quiet, which I attributed to how seriously he was focusing on not falling off the side of the chair. When we got up to the top, we sat next to each other, watching the sunset.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, as the wind pulled strands of my hair out of its bun. I tucked them behind my ears.
“Not as beautiful as you,” Ezra said.
I turned to look at him, and he was angled toward me with a ring box, open, in his hand.
“Will you marry me?” he asked.
My stomach flipped. I felt, for a moment, like my consciousness had left my body, like I was watching myself. The moment felt so strong, so powerfully emotional that I couldn’t process it right then. And then I was back inside myself and smiling wider than I thought my face could even manage.
“Of course,” I said, giddy with happiness. I know Ezra isn’t perfect, I know I’m not perfect, but ever since we’ve met, we’ve just felt perfect for each other.
There was this time a few months after we started dating when I got bronchitis. I was home, cocooned in some blankets and watching television, napping in the middle of one episode of Law & Order and waking up in the middle of a different one, so nothing quite made sense. He came over. It was just after we’d exchanged keys, and I heard him fumbling with his key in my door but didn’t manage to get up off the couch before he made it inside.