“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean, ‘not exactly’? You either tracked her down or you didn’t.”
“I didn’t. I was moving into the building and she was just … here.”
“Does she know you?” Ben asks. “Please tell me she knows who you are.”
“Yeah, well, I kind of screwed things up.”
“You? Screwing things up? I can’t imagine.”
I ignore his sarcasm. “I didn’t tell her who I was at first. Now she doesn’t trust me.”
It’s clear he doesn’t understand the extent of how badly I screwed up, because he says, “I have to meet her,” and then steps out of line and heads for her table. I curse under my breath, and then follow him.
“Naomi Light,” he says, sliding into the seat next to Anne so that he’s across from Naomi. “You are an absolute legend.”
She looks confused and a little bit scared. Anne leans away from him, clearly put off by the stranger intruding on their lunch date.
“You must have seen her weather report,” Anne says.
“Weather report?” He looks back at Naomi. “What, are you on TV?”
Naomi looks from Ben to me. I can tell by her expression that she’s putting together that we must know each other.
“She reports the weather here,” I say to Ben.
Anne looks over her shoulder at me. Ben continues, addressing Anne this time. “This girl here has been writing to my friend Luca since fifth grade. Can you believe that?” He turns back to Naomi, clutching his own hand dramatically. “I’m still traumatized by that one about the hangnail.”
“You read the letters?” Naomi asks.
“Only a couple of them.” He extends his hand across the table. “I’m Ben.”
She shakes his hand. “Ben Toole?” she asks.
I’m surprised she knows his name. He seems surprised too. “I didn’t know Luca told you about me.”
“Penny told me.”
Ben’s eyebrows shoot up. He looks at me, then back at her. “You met Penny?”
I realize this isn’t going to be a quick meet and greet, so I slide into the seat next to Naomi. She slides over, making room for me, but she doesn’t move fast enough and my leg bumps hers as I settle into the seat. She inches away from me, but I can still feel the spot on my leg that touched hers briefly. It’s almost enough to distract me from the heat of her glare on the side of my head.
“She tracked Penny down while she was stalking me,” I say to Ben.
“I was not stalking you.”
“You basically were,” Anne counters.
“He was writing letters to me at the news station with no return address,” Naomi explains to Ben. “I was just trying to find a way to write back to him.”
“What was Penny like?” Ben asks. “Still crazy?”
“So crazy,” Anne says.
“We didn’t talk to her for very long,” Naomi says. “Only long enough to figure out Luca didn’t live there anymore.”
I’m not looking at her, but I’m aware of every little move she makes. She brushes her fingers through her hair, and I can smell the familiar scent of her shampoo just as strongly as if my face were buried in her neck. It takes everything in my power not to bump her leg with mine just to see if she would move away again.
