Crossing the Bridge Read Free Page B

you doing here?” she asked as I walked up to her. I noticed her eyes scanning me from head to toe. She didn’t seem to be appraising me; it was as though she was taking inventory.
    “I read about this place in a guidebook and decided to check it out,” I said.
    “You look good. You seem – taller.”
    “Yeah, I get that a lot.”
    She looked stunning to me. I was surprised at how my memory had failed to do her justice. Her hair was shorter than I remembered, but her eyes seemed even more cobalt, her skin smoother, her posture even more approachable.
    “So what are you doing here? Last I heard, you were off wandering the globe.”
    “Yeah, moving from suburb to suburb in search of thrills. I finally got tired of the fast lane and decided to stop by for a little small town calm.” As I said this, I rolled my eyes to make sure that she understood I
was being ironic. “Actually, my dad’s sick and I’m here to check up on him.”
    Concern darkened her expression. “Is he okay?”
    “I think so. I’m gonna watch the store for him for a few days.”
    “Wow, things have changed.”
    “Well I guess you can do anything for a few days, huh? So what are you doing here? You haven’t moved back, have you?”
    “God, no. I live in Lenox now. I come down every month or so to see my mom. My dad died a few years ago.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that. He seemed like a good guy.”
    Iris nodded and looked up the street. I couldn’t tell if she was thinking about her father or feeling uncomfortable about seeing me.
    “Do you want to go grab a cup of coffee?” I said.
    She wrinkled her nose. “I can’t. I’ve got a few more stops to make and I told my mother I wouldn’t be gone long.”
    I shook my head and looked down at my shoes. “That just sounded like I was blowing you off, didn’t it?”
    “No, your mom doesn’t like to be alone. I get it.”
    “Actually, my mom is fine being alone. She just gets irrational if I tell her I’m only going to be gone a short while and then I come back a few hours later. Even if I call her.” She chortled. “Mothers. You’re here for a few days?”
    “Yeah, three or four probably, assuming everything turns out okay with my father.”

    “I’m going to be here until the weekend. Do you want to get a drink sometime?”
    “That would be good,” I said, disproportionately cheered by the fact that she wasn’t blowing me off. “Tomorrow night?”
    “I’d like that. I’ll meet you at the Cornwall at, say, 8:30?”
    “The Cornwall. Yeah, absolutely.”
    “It’ll be nice to catch up. You can tell me about all of your adventures.” She smiled and touched me on the arm. “This was a nice surprise. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
    She headed into the bakery and I returned to the store. It was no more active there than when I left and I again found myself looking across the street from the window. When Iris came out of the bakery, I saw her take a quick glance in my direction before walking away.
    For a reason that wasn’t entirely clear to me at that moment, I found this extremely satisfying.

CHAPTER THREE
    An Explanation That Works for Just about Anything
    The first time I met Iris, I was serving as the brunt of one of my brother’s jokes. I’d been home after my sophomore year at Emerson for a little more than a week and wondering how long I could get by with the excuse of a summer independent study class before my father penciled me into the work schedule at the store. That day, Chase hadn’t come home directly after school. This wasn’t unusual now that he had his driver’s license. But in the late afternoon, while I was alone in the house and listening to a vintage Clash album at a volume only allowable when my parents weren’t around, the phone rang. It was Chase speaking agitatedly, telling me that he needed me to pick him up from the mall in Milton. He’d left his car at school because the girl he was with had offered to drive, but when they got to the