They talked for over an easy hour at the coffee shop. They said good-bye without exchanging numbers or promises to call. Phillip left wanting more. Wanting to know he'd see her again. Wanting to see that face again and those lips and eyes and just...more. But he was afraid that she might want him too and if she did, would it ever work? Would she always be resentful?

He certainly wasn’t expecting to see her the next day on a sidewalk on Wisconsin Avenue near the National Cathedral. The same older woman from that day in his office pushed Leah in her wheelchair. He asked the cab driver to pull over and let him out. The drinks he was supposed to have with his friends Alex and Olivia could wait.

“Leah!” he said, running up to her. “Hi,” he told the wheelchair-pusher. “Mind if I do this?”

“I’ll walk ahead of you,” the lady said to Leah and got out of his way with a scowl.

“Your mother?” he said, grinning.
“My aunt.”

“Is she always so pleasant?”

“She’s pushing me around in thirty-degree weather hoping we make it to my house before the snow starts. What do you want?”

“I’m sorry you can’t dance anymore. I know what it’s like to have your life ripped away from you. I didn't tell you that last night, but I wanted to." This time the apology was sincere. He meant it.

She sighed, then, “It’s okay, Phillip.”

“I want to make this okay for you. Please, let me take some financial responsibility.”

“I haven’t decided whether to sue you.”

He didn’t see the start of a smile on her lips. “I’d understand if you did.”

“The moment you hit me," she said, serious again. “Were you on your phone?”

“No. I’d just put it down.”

“You were distracted though.”

He stopped the wheelchair and met her around at the front to face her. “I’m paying attention now.”

Her aunt, who’d kept a good distance, turned and put her hand on her hip. “I need go," she said.

“I know this is going to sound sudden, but…” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his business card. He opened the flap on her coat and tucked it inside.“If you’re not doing anything Christmas Eve…”

“I have plans,” she said, looking offended. “Don’t you?”

"I should get going too," he said. He did not have plans. Because he wasn’t celebrating this year. He wasn’t celebrating ever again.

One more post!