Sam arrived at the park five minutes early. June knew because she arrived six minutes early and watched him come through the gate.
He had the same coat. It ought to have been a comfort that he hadn’t become a different person while she wasn’t looking. Instead she felt briefly cross with him for being so recognizable.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.”
He leaned toward her, uncertain whether they were hugging. June took a step toward the path and made the question unnecessary.
“Do you want to walk?”
“Sure.”
They passed a little boy trying to ride a bicycle beside a parent who looked more frightened than he did. Sam watched them, smiling. June looked at the gravel under her shoes.
“Ruby said you kissed,” she said.
Sam’s smile disappeared. “Is that what this is about?”
“Yes.”
“She said that to you?”
“The Tuesday after the video.”
They kept walking. Ahead, two dogs were disagreeing about a stick.
“We did,” Sam said. “After that night out. I stopped it.”
“About seven weeks before the video, she said.”
“That sounds right.”
“Nothing before we split up?”
“No, June. Nothing. It was one night, months afterwards.”
“Did you see each other after it?”
“Not like that. She called. I told her I didn’t want a relationship.”
June stopped beside a bench but didn’t sit. The answer had been so plain. It matched the thing Ruby had found difficult to say.
Sam stood beside her, hands in his pockets.
“I didn’t think we needed to tell you about a kiss that wasn’t going anywhere.”
“You both thought that.”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
June nodded once. She didn’t know how to make that answer useful.
“Have you seen her video?” she asked.
“Someone sent it. I thought it was about someone else.”
“She says she was upset about you. That she changed things to keep you out of it.”
“The birthday?”
“That didn’t happen.”
“I wasn’t at any birthday dinner. We weren’t together.”
“I know. I’m asking about what did happen.”
Sam looked toward the gate. “I kissed her. Then I didn’t want more. That isn’t the whole thing she’s talking about in that clip.”
“No.”
He turned back sharply. “Please don’t put my name anywhere.”
“I haven’t.”
“Will she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tell her I don’t want that.”
June looked at him for a moment. There was the old position again: Sam asking, June arranging the least uncomfortable way for everyone to get what they wanted.
“You can tell her yourself,” she said.
“I thought—”
“I came to ask you what happened. I’ve asked.”
He took a hand out of his pocket. “All right.”
They resumed walking. The conversation had left her with what she wanted and less relief than she expected. Ruby had genuinely liked him. He had genuinely rejected her. June could believe Ruby sitting alone afterwards trying to make the hurt sound less foolish, reaching for somebody else’s better words.
She also remembered which somebody that had been.
At the end of the path Sam asked whether she still worked at the cinema. She said she did, and told him about her Friday evening.
“You did the talking?”
“Some of it.”
“That’s good. You always wanted to.”
“Yes.”
He smiled. “I’m glad.”
June believed him. They stood near the bandstand while the two dogs passed with the stick now broken into separate pieces.
“We could get something to eat,” Sam said. “If you wanted.”
She looked at him. He had moved a little nearer.
“I need to go home.”
“Another night, then.”
He reached toward her arm. She moved her hand out of the way, not quickly, but enough.
“That’s not why I asked to see you.”
Sam lowered his hand. “I know. I just thought it might be nice to talk about other things.”
“There isn’t something to start again.”
He looked away. June stayed with the discomfort instead of giving him a smile to make it easier.
“I miss you sometimes,” he said.
“I missed you when we were together.”
He opened his mouth and closed it. She hadn’t meant to say that. She was glad she had.
“I hope you’re all right,” she said.
“You too.”
They parted at the gate without touching. June crossed the road to the bus stop. When she looked back, Sam was walking toward the bandstand alone.
On the bus she texted Ruby. Sam confirmed the kiss and that you didn’t have a relationship. I’ve told him I’m not putting his name out.
Ruby answered before June reached her stop. Thank you for asking him. I know that can’t have been easy.
It hadn’t been. June let the message remain a kindness without answering it yet.