A small decision

I heard from dear Greg. A missed call. So, I called back. I waited until I thought his shift would be a little slower, but I know enough about the business to know Fridays are busy all day.

"This is Greg," he said. I could hear the rush in his voice already.

"Am I catching you busy?"

"Yeah, but that's okay."

"This is Blogget."

"Oh hey! What's up?"

"I just thought I'd check back with you."

"I thought I'd let you know, the dates you're talking about won't work out for me. It turns out this month is bad for me. I'm going to have to make a trip to Houston at the end of the month." I read the subtext. That means he has to work his ass off the rest of the month, to make up for that expense.

"Oh wow," I said. "All right."

"How are things there?" he asked.

"Things are pretty good," I said. I don't know why I was caught off guard by the question. "It's cold!"

"I like cold," he said.

I laughed. "You do? Then you do need to come back to Colorado with me!"

"Uh-huh," he said, and repeated it. "Uh-huh!"

"Well, we're also looking at a weekend in February," I said.

"I'll know more about that towards the end of the month," he said. "Give me a call then and we'll work it out."

He was very busy, though, and had to go. I said "Take care," and he said, "You, too." And that was it.

I put down the phone and took a deep breath. Houston? What's going on in Houston? I'm intensely curious, so I couldn't help but wonder.

But here's the crux of it. He has his life. I have mine. Two weeks ago, those paths hadn't crossed. They did briefly. Will they again? I hope so, but in this moment, I don't know. In the meantime, I'll let his life flow without me, and mine will flow without him. Now and again, I'll stop and remember his beautiful face, his strong body, his sweet voice. When and if I stop doing that, I'll know our time has passed.