TIme After Time

She’s making small talk with the customer, fingers flying as she punches numbers into the register, and then she takes his credit card and runs it through some loud contraption and hands his card back to him. And that’s when she sees me.

I just smile. I watch as her expression changes, morphing into this perfect mix of surprise and relief.

Anna looks back at the customer and pushes the overstuffed bag in his direction. “Here you go,” she says with giddiness that the moment doesn’t call for. Her eyes keep darting in my direction.

“Thanks,” he says.

“Any time. Have a good quarter.”

Instead of reaching for the bag, he rests one hip against the counter and watches her, like he’s expecting her to say something else. I wonder if he thinks that smile is for him. He is standing right in front of her, after all. But I can tell from this vantage point that she’s not looking at him, she’s looking past him. Anna has lots of different smiles, but the one she’s wearing right now is one she reserves for me.

“Bye,” she says, pushing the bag across the counter again, this time with more force, and he must get the message because he grabs it with both hands and heads for the front door.

She starts heading in my direction. “Shoot,” the guy says, “I almost forgot.” He turns around and struts back to the counter, and Anna returns to her spot behind the register, looking official again.

I watch her, picturing that surprised look she wore on her face just a moment ago. I think about how nice it would be to see it one more time.

No one’s ever in the Travel section, so I take a chance. Ducking back behind the shelves, I hide from her view and close my eyes. I picture the row on the opposite side of the store, and when I open them, I’m standing in it. I take my backpack off and set it down by my feet.

I can still hear her voice at the counter but now I’m too far away to make out what she’s saying. I stare down at the shelf marked with the word MEXICO, remembering the night I came in here last April.

I should have been studying, but couldn’t stop thinking about her. All day, I’d been looking for a chance to get her alone so I could tell her the second part of my secret, but I never found one. So before I could change my mind, I fed my arms into the sleeves of my jacket and walked to the bookstore.

Her face completely lit up when she saw me walk in, and all I wanted to do was kiss her. Instead, I told her I was there to pick up a book on Mexico. She led me over here to the Travel section.

At first, we talked about our assignment, but then she stopped me in midsentence and said, “I want to hear the rest of the second thing.” When I looked in her eyes, I knew she meant it. And so I told her everything. That I was born in 1995. That I’m seventeen in 2012. That I wasn’t supposed to be here. That I could visit, but I couldn’t stay.

And then, against my better judgment, I finally did what I’d wanted to do since the day I met her. I came up on my knees and I kissed her, no longer caring about my rules or where and when I was supposed to be. Just as I was about to pull away like I knew I should, I felt her hands on my back, drawing me in until we were pressed against the bookcase and there was nowhere else for us to go but closer to each other. I kissed her harder.

The bells on the door jingle, snapping me back to reality.

“Bennett?” I hear Anna call from across the room.

I duck around the corner and press my chest into the end of the shelving unit, keeping my eyes fixed on the aisle and waiting for her to walk by. I don’t see or hear her, so I stay silent as I listen for breathing and wait for her to come into view.

I’m just about to take a step forward when I feel her hands grip my sides. I jump.

“Gotcha,” she whispers in my ear. Her forehead falls against the back of my neck and her arms wrap around me. I can feel her breathing.

“That’s an understatement,” I say, bringing her hands to my face, kissing her fingers.

“I didn’t see where you went,” she says.

“Yeah.” I let out a small laugh. “Remember? I do that.”

“Just to mess with me.” I can hear the eye roll in her voice.

“Just to mess with you.”

“Maybe you should start thinking about doing more with this little talent of yours than surprising your girlfriend.”

“Say that last part again.”

She laughs. Squeezes me harder. “Surprising your girlfriend.”

I smile. “I like the way that sounds.” I loosen her grip on my waist and turn around. Her whole face is lit up so bright, I swear we could turn off all the lights in the bookstore and still see each other perfectly.

“Hi.” I twist a strand of her curls around my finger.

“Hi.” She reaches up and musses my hair. “You’re here,” she says, but something in her voice makes her sound unsure.

“I’m here.” I bring my hands to her cheeks. “I’ve missed you like crazy.” She presses her lips together and gives me the slightest nod, and before she can say anything I tip her head back and kiss her, softly, slowly, savoring the feeling of being here in this room with her again. I kiss her harder. And just like that first night, she kisses me back, pulling me into her, like she still wants me here and still trusts me with her heart, even though she probably knows by now that she shouldn’t.

4

When the clock reads 9:02, Anna walks the perimeter of the store, shutting off lights and adjusting books as she goes. I flip the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED, and we step outside. She presses some buttons on the keypad by the door to set the alarm, and clicks the deadbolt in place behind us.

I reach for her hand and we walk in silence toward the end of the block. The familiar sounds from the coffeehouse grow louder with each step, and I take a big whiff of the air, inhaling the scent. We’re about to pass the entrance when Anna stops. “Do you want to go in and get something? We could hang out for a bit.”

I peer through the window. It’s not nearly as busy as it is when bands play on Sunday nights, but it’s still pretty crowded. All of the couches are taken and the only option I see is a high table in the middle of the room. I’ve hardly been alone with her all summer, and I really don’t feel like sharing her with anyone else tonight. “I was hoping for something a bit quieter.”

She pivots so she’s facing me and reaches for my other hand. “In that case, you have two choices: my room or yours. Who do you want to face first, my parents or Maggie?”

I make the sound of a game-show buzzer. “I don’t like either of those. What’s my third choice?”

She laughs and shakes her head slightly at me. “There’s no third choice.”

“Sure there is.”

Anna raises her eyebrows and stares at me.

“We’ll bypass the parents and just sneak up to your bedroom. No one needs to know I’m in town yet.”

“Too late. I already told them you were coming tonight.”

I snap my fingers and laugh under my breath. “Damn.” Anna shakes her head at me again while I think about my options. “I’m not ready for Maggie yet,” I say, and Anna gives me an understanding nod and drops my other hand. We continue walking toward her house.

“So, how did they take it?” I ask.

“My parents?” She shrugs. “Pretty well, I guess. Mom was cooler about you being back than Dad was, which kind of surprised me. Actually, he wasn’t too upset until I mentioned that you came to visit me in La Paz. He wasn’t at all pleased about that.” Her head spins toward mine. “Oh, and I said you visited twice, not four times, so stick to that if he asks, okay?”

I silently hope he won’t ask. I’m also silently disappointed that she’s started lying to her parents. She didn’t do that before I showed up.

“I can’t tell what they really think,” she says. “The other night, my mom came into my room to tell me that she likes you, and that she’s glad we’ll get to spend our senior year together. She actually looked giddy when she