OFF THE RECORD (First Person)

28. Siena

December 2014

Emma

Tomas was looking for me after work hours. His duties were done for the rest of the year, and he would finally have a three-week break. He would spend Christmas Day in Corpus, with his family, but he wanted to reach me first, because according to him I had become somewhat cutting since our last outing. I wanted to delude his thoughts, but I couldn't lie to him.

He said he didn't want to seem desperate, but he needed us to tie some loose ends. I had to agree. Besides, I was dying to see him.

He waited for me, outside of my office building, sitting on a bench as he smoked a cigarette. He had arrived just in time. As he saw me walk through the doors, he reached me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised.

I should have brushed my hair today, I thought. It had been finals week, and I had no time for mundane routines of appearances.

"I was just seeing how you were doing. I don't know, maybe take a drive around. I have some free time."

He detailed his coming weekly plans until we reached my car. I was getting used to his sudden arrivals, in which he was dropped off either on taxi or Uber.

However, I couldn't help but feel nervous around him. I had avoided him because I didn't know how to talk to him, and with him present, I had no way out.

"Can I drive? I wanted to see if we could go to a place I saw online." He asked.

"I have a final tomorrow, and the last one on Friday. I'm sorry I can't spend too much time out."

"Okay. I get it. Just a couple of hours? I'll leave today to Corpus if you can drop me off at the 'port?"

I nodded, struggling to get a word out.

I sat on the passenger seat, feeling unused to it. Besides, having him next to me in my car made me remember that night, on the same place, and his scent made my heartbeat as if it would come out of my chest.

I tried to concentrate on the traffic, looking at the city through the passenger window. I thought, carefully, of how to reestablish the bases of our relationship. I thought of how to express them to him, without seeming close minded, but neither desperate.

As I saw where we had arrived, I rolled my eyes.

"You know they close early, right?" I asked him.

We were parked in front of The Color Factory, a museum dedicated to color. I had heard of that new place in the city, but I never thought of going, mostly because my job and schoolwork finished with whatever minimum excess of energy I had left.

He knocked on the glass door, shrugging. A young lady reached the door with a smile, unlocking it.

"Welcome! We are so excited you could make it. Please come in!" The lady beams excitedly.

She guided us thru a bright narrow hallway, with thousands of ribbons in different colors hanging from the ceiling. We reach a small area where a thick blue cylindrical pillar surrounded by a conveyor belt, carrying dozens of different color macarons, stood.

The host continued, stretching her arm to her side. "Feel free to grab any complementary desserts. Here is a map and a beeper if you need assistance. Whenever you are ready, the entrance is on the left, by those rainbow stairs." She stated.

Tomas took both items, nodding gratefully.

As the lady left, I checked out the space, circling around slowly, swinging my arms from my sides to my front.