At Least They're Committed

I usually don’t walk that way anymore. I tell myself it’s because I’m lazy, taking the mall shuttle to the corner of 16th and Lawrence then walking two blocks, rather than taking the bus to Market and cutting across four blocks. I’m not lazy, though. I have to be honest. I’ve been avoiding L. He’s really a wonderful man, sweet, handsome, kind, lovely Mexican accent. Well, but he asked me over to his house for dinner and that totally wigged me out. He said he knows I’m married and he just wants to cook for me. I freaked, well inside anyway. On the outside, I apologetically told him that I know his intentions are honorable (um), but that my husband wouldn’t approve. I made sure I ran into him a couple more times so he wouldn’t realize that I was buggin’ and that he’d scared me off. But of course he’d scared me off. That was four months ago. I started taking the shuttle rather than walking and I skulked into work each morning hoping not to run into L. Yes, I know, real mature, right. Yesterday I was late, though, and found myself literally running the old route from bus to building. And lo, who was before me but L. Honestly, it was soooo great to see him and he was so very, very happy and grateful to see me. He hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, asked about my family, I asked about his daughter. Wonderful man, sweet, handsome, kind . . . I took the other way from the bus again today, skulking into work, hoping not to run into L.