Page 82 of Watching Henry

Florence looked at her, blue eyes half-shaded by her glasses. “Why are you really here?” she asked, quietly.

Hadley looked down at the cracks on the sidewalk. “Because I screwed things up,” she said, being as utterly honest as she could. “Not with what I told you, but with how I told you. And because I need to explain things to you Florence, and because...”

The breeze stirred Florence's hair and Hadley was afraid to look at her in case she lost her nerve.

“Because I don't want to do this without you,” she finished.

“Don't want to do what without me?” Florence asked.

“Life,” Hadley answered.

Florence started to walk slowly and Hadley watched her go, heart falling.

“Well?” Florence asked. “Aren't you coming for this walk?”

Hadley hurried to catch up. “We're not so different, you and I,” she said, when they were walking in step.

“We're not?” asked Florence, looking ahead.

“We're two sides of the same coin, isn't that the saying?” Hadley asked. “You're afraid of risk, you told me so, and you have every right to be. But here's the thing, so am I. You're afraid of taking a risk where things change. I'm afraid of taking a risk where things stay the same.”

Florence said nothing.

“But here's the point, Florence. I've realized that without risk we don't move forward. Everything's a risk if you want it to be. Getting out of bed in the morning is a risk, driving to work is a risk, every step of your day is a risk. We can't live without it.”

“You're right,” Florence said. “I can see that. I can see how I've been so invested in how things should be that I haven't been thinking about how they could be, and that's on me, that's me blinding myself.”

Hadley puffed out a breath. “You want to know why I'm back here. I'm back here because I'm willing to take the risk. I've got a job, I've signed up for classes when the semester starts, I'm settling down, at least for the next couple of years.”

Florence stopped again. “Are you doing all that for me?”

Another warm gust of breeze blew down the street.

“No,” Hadley said. “I'm doing it for me. I'm doing it because to move onto the next stage of my life I need to take a risk. And I'm ready for it.”

Florence nodded and started walking again.

“But I do want you to be there,” Hadley said. Her heart had stilled in her chest and Florence just kept walking.

“You know what I see?” Florence asked, after a long minute.

“What?” Hadley asked.

Florence paused, checked the street for traffic, then crossed and started walking back toward the coffee shop on the shady side of the street. Hadley knew she should be anxious, knew she should be nervous or afraid, but suddenly she wasn't. She was oddly comfortable, just walking down the street by Florence's side.

“I see someone who's far braver than I have ever been,” Florence said. “Someone who's beautiful and smart and rich, but so much more than that. Someone that's willing to jump in with both feet when the situation demands it. And it makes me so proud of you. Prouder than I have any right to be probably.”

Hadley laughed. “I don't know about that.”

“It inspires me,” Florence said, quite seriously. “It makes me want to be like you.”

It was Hadley that stopped this time, looking up at Florence.

“It makes me want to do this,” Florence said.

In a fraction of a second, Florence's hand was cupping Hadley's cheek, and then her lips were brushing softly and gently against Hadley's. Then the feeling was gone, so fast that Hadley thought she might have imagined it.

“Florence, I like you,” Hadley said, looking down at the ground again.

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