Set Fire To The Rain

Alyson

Noe

As much as I know she'd love it, I've never taken Cassie out to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

'It's for tourist,' I'd tell her. 'The best parts of the city are the ones nobody knows about.'

She'd banter me about being a hater for her still wanting to 'be that corny and indulging tourist doing touristy things', but she'd leave it at that. And eventually, we'd decide on another place to get lost together.

The truth is, I still couldn't stand being on the promenade without remembering why I abandoned it in the first place.

What I never told Cass was how much I loved walks on the promenade before we met, and that it was the only reason why I hadn't gone back.

The only reason I agreed to meet Alyson there that night, despite everything that had gone on between us.

Brooklyn Promenade had been mine and Alyson's sacred ground.

It had been our first date, the first real kiss, the first I love you, the first argument, and the first plea for forgiveness.

It'd been "our place" for thinking things through, a neutral territory for marital diplomacy, and a safe haven for standing by the railing next to each other in long, dragged out silences until we agreed to talk without a shouting match.

Where couples' counseling never worked, this spot had been the last stop in our relationship. No matter where we were, no matter how pissed off we were at each other, no matter what was going on in our lives, this spot was the one place in the world where we agreed to always support each other and hear the other out.

Even now, with me and Alyson long over, time and healing still doesn't quite erase everything.

This place was still special to me.

I still honored that vow I made to her years ago, that I'd be there to meet her at that spot when she needed me.

And though too many promises had been broken between us, I kept this one.

'Meet me where Brooklyn met Queens' , the written note under my truck windshield wiper read.

The classic code for "our spot".

I didn't second guess it. I didn't remind her that things were different now in my life, and a lot had changed. I didn't even call Cassidy to mention I'd be home a few minutes late.

I just went with my gut feelings and turned my truck around toward the harbor.

She asked me to come, and by force of habit, I showed up.

***

I stopped walking at the railing overlooking the harbor.

Taking my place next to the woman in a chocolate brown peacoat with a long chocolate braid.

For a moment, we stood silently next to each other like that, in the exact same spot I had 23 years ago, when we were just 17-year-old kids on our first date.

I knew that's the old version of us she was thinking about in that moment, because she sighed deeply. A faint nostalgic little smile playing on her lips that she could barely hold back.

"I didn't think you were coming," she said. "Aren't you full of surprises these days?"

"Don't ever approach my wife like that again," I told her. "My apartment is off limits. Understand?"

"Oh, cut the melodrama, Noe," she said, rolling her eyes.

Then she laughed, turning from the water to look at me.