THE ENGINE IS RUNNING as I watch you stride up the path towards me, gripping a Calculus 101 textbook across your chest. I wait until you step around to the side of the car before I flick the headlights back on. You open the passenger door and slide in.
"Hi Gracie. How did it go tonight?"
"Really well, thank you, the kids were really good," you say, clicking the seat belt.
"Mr. Trouble didn't give you any trouble?" I ask, backing out of the driveway and turning the wheel to point us to your place, as I've done many times before.
"Hah, not this time. We had dinner, played a few games then I sent both of them up to bed. The usual routine."
I nod. Next, there will be silence for five minutes as we both stare ahead at the road, the two of us sitting alone in the dark, separated by decades of time and 18 inches of airspace. Some more chit-chat, about university life, midterms. I catch glimpses of you out of the corner of my eye as I make the turns, heading across town. You're beautiful. The conversation is just filler, I'm not paying attention. Rather I'm savouring these 10 minutes of your sweet company as we slide across town, through mostly empty, carless streets.
You have on capris and a light blue cashmere cardigan, over a button-up white blouse. Your hands hold the textbooks on your lap. I faintly catch the slightest whiff of the scent you're wearing. Like lemons.
God, you are a sweet young thing. At 19, you are the very definition of forbidden fruit. What a secret thrill it is to have these fleeting moments with you.
We reach the light at East 1st, just as it turns to yellow. And we wait, no other traffic in sight.
That's when something truly incredible and unexpected happens, a moment that crashes through my midnight routine like a rock dropped off an overpass.
You move your hand onto my thigh.