Liza heard the soft tread of shoes on the mossy brick ground. She opened her eyes to find Bruce standing a few feet away.
“Mind if I sit down?”
“Sure,” said Liza, dragging her bags closer to make room. He was wearing beige cargo pants and a black t-shirt. It was only June, but he was already tan. The sunlight revealed a smattering of red hair hiding among the browns and whites. He looked younger than he had last year; even more handsome. Bruce sunk onto the bench with a sigh, leaned back, and closed his eyes. “Rough night, Professor?”
“Mmm hmm, my girlfriend kept me up late.” A smile crept across his lips.
“That bitch,” said Liza, smiling now too. She closed her eyes and tilted her face to the sun.
“Oh, I enjoyed it.” Bruce’s hand closed around hers. They laced their fingers together on the bench between them.
“So did she,” said Liza. She rubbed the side of his finger with her thumb. He squeezed her hand. “How come you wanted to meet here today?”
“I had an errand to run, remember?”
Liza hesitated, deciding. “What did you have to do?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Bruce.
Liza didn’t say anything for a few minutes. “Fair enough,” she breathed, and she locked it away with everything else that she wished that she could un-know and undo. She put it away with sick Casey, her Mom and John’s mutilated bodies, and the adoption paperwork that Laura left on her pillow one night after a fight when they were growing up. The magazine was in there too. There were a lot of things in there.