"How about tomorrow? Are you free?" I replied. "I’ve got some things I need to discuss with you."
The next afternoon, I arrived at the café thirty minutes in advance than we agreed on. As so happened the Sunshine High School across the street was on the break. The students in uniform in groups of two or three were gossiping about celebrities and complaining about their teachers. I overheard their chatter and thought of something I’d once heard, when life gets tough, we start to long for the past.
This café used to be a simple breakfast joint. Back in high school, I ran into Jack here twice. The first time, it was shortly after I started school and I saw him surrounded by a group of students. It felt like I was watching a monkey in a zoo.
Later, a friend told me that Jack was a legendary senior at Sunshine High School. The second time I saw him was in June of my sophomore year, right after he’d taken the college entrance exam. He dropped a letter in front of me as I was eating my dumplings and then walked away without a word.
A year later, I secretly changed my college preference to the city where Jack was studying. When he saw me with my suitcase on campus, he laughed and cried like an idiot.
"Sorry for waiting for so long, Senior," I said while beaming at him in his arms.
"I’d wait ten more years if I had to," he promised, his eyes were bright and firm.
However, in the ten years that followed, four years of college and five years of marriage, the promise was finally broken.
"Lucy," a gentle voice brought me back to the present.
"Sorry for the long wait," Dr. Robertson smiled, then put several delicate boxes of cake in front of me. "I picked these up for you. You mentioned that you liked the cake from this place before."
"Should I order every coffee on the menu to make it up to you?" I joked.
"Oh, no thanks! I don’t want to stay up all night. A good night’s sleep is the foundation of a healthy life." Dr. Robertson laughed. "Try this one, they said it's their most popular one."
He handed me a small spoon. I took it, scooped a piece and tasted it.
"Not bad," I said, though pain roiled in my stomach. I was used to it by now.
I stared at the pretty cake while wondering how to begin the conversation.