I (F 21) would show up, a traveler out of time and space basically. Coming and going through his (M 40) particular time randomly. Let him see me, freezing as he recognized me through the bakery window, me on the customer side of the counter. I’d motion that he shouldn’t say anything and slip out. Leaving him to burn with curiosity, until he had his break and grabbed his phone to text me.
I know him, and it’s not that hard to predict when he would take a lunch break. All I have to do is send him a picture of an easily identifiable landmark, make him find me to catch up about the last two years we haven’t seen each other.
We sit casually, swinging our legs over the river, eating ice cream…me telling stories of some places I’ve seen and people I’ve met. Reliving golden memories from the bakery when we worked together, and inside jokes we shared. Then…the first lead in. Me coyly slipping in, “you know I had a terrible crush on you…right?”
Him, being flustered and forgetting how to eat ice cream. Being nonchalant, “oh, really?”