at Robert’s letter.
My heart gave a stupid little flutter I hadn’t felt in years.
That changed the air between us.
Then he reached across the table and simply turned his hand palm-up between us.
I looked at it for a second.
Then placed mine in his.
***
I stayed in Australia three weeks longer than planned.
Arthur showed me places tourists missed. We listened to records and ate terrible sandwiches near the beach.
I looked at it for a second.
He took me to the lake where he and Robert had stayed as young men.
The cottage was long gone; the water wasn’t.
We stood on the shore together.
“I thought coming here would make me sad,” I said.
“Does it?”
“A little.”
Then I smiled.
“But not only sad.”
We stood on the shore.
***
I didn’t cancel the rest of my trip.
Instead, Arthur accompanied me for two stops.
