Liam
I walk inside a few steps ahead of her.
I do not turn around. I know she is there anyway. I am aware of her in the same way you are aware of a sound continuing after a door closes. Not present exactly, but not gone either.
I tell myself it is nothing and keep moving.
Hospitals are good for that. They give you something to focus on. Floors. Signs. The quiet efficiency of people who know where they are going. I take the elevator to the fourth floor and let the doors close before the thought can finish forming.
I recognize her.
The problem is that recognition requires a reference point, and I do not have one.
It is not attraction. That would be easy. That would have a shape. This does not. It sits lower. Quieter. More like concern than interest. Familiarity without context.
That
