“That’s really amazing. I haven’t really ever given back. Maybe teaching yoga is a little bit of giving back now. But it…” Charlie didn’t want to say it, but in trying to be more genuine, she pushed forward. “It wasn’t really on my radar before. I don’t think I was a bad person, but I was definitely absorbed in my own life. My job. Making money for faceless people. I don’t want that to be me anymore. I don’t think it’s who I am at my core.” She hadn’t realized how tense she’d become until Harper tentatively grabbed her hand and squeezed.
“That’s what life is about, right? Growing and getting better as a person? We aren’t born with innate knowledge of humanity and the universe. Every person on the planet is a work in progress. But at our age, hopefully, we are conscious enough to be changing for the better. And at this point, if we aren’t, that’s the real problem.”
Charlie turned her hand, interlacing their fingers. She hopedHarper wouldn’t pull away, but in that moment, she needed a tangible connection. “You’re right, I think. I hope.”
Harper squeezed her hand but didn’t release her as Charlie had been expecting. They walked that way for several blocks, their fingers intertwined, their arms brushing. Just the sound of their feet on the pavement and that of loud tourists a few blocks away. As they got closer to Mallory Square, they could hear the cheers and gasps of people watching the performers who Charlie had been so excited to see. Yet, as she and Harper walked, she wished they were alone because once they arrived and were no longer in their safe, secluded little bubble, surely Harper would drop her hand, and Charlie was enjoying the closeness. A lot.
“Who were the people you were hanging out with this afternoon?” Charlie said, surprising herself. She wanted to know yet felt embarrassed about asking.
“Ellie, the woman who was sitting with me, is an old client from a lifetime ago. She works in commercial real estate. I used to do a lot of the legal work when she was buying, selling, or negotiating leases. Kelly and I worked on her account in tandem fairly regularly. I haven’t seen her or really talked to her since I left Chicago. The woman she was with, Hayden, is her fiancée. They met after I moved down here, but they seem really happy, and I’m so excited for Ellie. She’s been looking for her Ms. Right for a long time. I think she’d nearly given up.”
“That’s really sweet.” And it was. Charlie had never had big romantic delusions for herself, but she was always happy for others who found love.
The sounds of the crowd grew as they approached the water and Mallory Square. As they entered the plaza, the crowd erupted, but Charlie wasn’t sure why. The sights and sounds and smells were nearly overwhelming, but they made their way toward the water where a man had a tightrope set up and was balancing while juggling pins that were on fire. He was standingon his left leg and moving his right in front and behind the other, seeming to barely touch the wire each time.
“How do you think he holds his balance?” Harper said.
“A hell of a lot of practice?” Charlie had a flash of her previous life and marveled at the similarities. She’d always felt like she was balancing on a high-wire and juggling multiple projects, any of which could fall, but hers also had the danger of blowing up at any second. She shivered at the thought of going back to that life. It seemed as desirable as actually jumping up on the wire and making the solo act a duo.
“Are you okay?” Harper had leaned in so close that her breath caressed Charlie’s ear.
She tried to smile. “Yeah, just a stray thought. But all good.” She leaned into Harper until nearly their entire sides were touching. She took a deep breath with her eyes closed and reveled in how good the closeness of another person—of Harper, specifically—felt.
Charlie opened her eyes, and they watched the performer for a few more minutes until he ended with his grand finale of tossing the pins high into the air and flipping forward onto the tiny platform at the end of the tightrope, where he spun before catching his pins.
The crowd erupted in excitement, and she and Harper dropped hands to clap for him. Harper even did one of those loud whistles that required two fingers. Impressive but it also drew Charlie’s attention to Harper’s perfect lips. She didn’t look away until Harper caught her staring, and their gazes held.
Harper broke the moment when she cleared her throat. “We should give him a tip, right?”
Charlie hadn’t realized most of the crowd had dispersed, and they stood alone in front of the tightrope as even the performer left on a break. She smiled, feeling sheepish as she looked around. “Oops. And good idea.” She pulled some bills out of herpocket as Harper reached for her wallet. “You get the next one.”
They slowly walked around the spectacle of Mallory Square, watching a guy play a banjo while his dog walked around the crowd and played the role of an adorable pitch man. A woman juggled while riding a unicycle with a dog, who occasionally helped when she was juggling balls. Another man swallowed swords while another encouraged his cats on a tightrope to jump through rings of fire. As they walked and chatted and were amazed by all the artists, the sun slowly made its way toward the horizon, casting everything with a sun-kissed glow that only made Harper even more beautiful. Her blue-green eyes sparkled brighter, and even her smile seemed lighter in the glow.
Just before the bottom edge of the sun broke the horizon, Harper said, “Why don’t we sit for a bit and watch the sunset.” She gestured to an empty bench. “I think all the performers do one more act after sundown. You used to be able to sit on the seawall, but they closed it because it wasn’t structurally sound. It’s too bad because the view was perfect from there.”
Charlie leaned into her side. “This feels pretty perfect to me.” There were a few people milling between them and the water, but sitting next to Harper, their arms pressed together, their knees touching as they watched the sun appear to elongate and get absorbed into the water felt incredible. “It’s wild how the sun looks like it’s melting isn’t it?”
“Watch closely. We might get to see the green flash.” Harper smiled before looking back to the horizon.
“Green flash?”
“Sometimes, just as the sun sets, there will be a brief green flash of light at the horizon right as the last sliver of light disappears. They say it’s good luck if you see it.”
“Sounds like a myth.” Charlie pursed her lips as she looked at Harper, waiting for her to laugh.
“No seriously, it happens. There’s an actual scientificreason for it. Something about the atmosphere bending shorter wavelengths of light like green more than longer ones like red, so once the red is out of the way, you’re able to see a brief flash of green. I don’t fully understand the science, but I know it’s a real thing. You can google it later, but I swear, it’s not hooey.”
Charlie squinted as she stared. “Hooey?”
“What’s wrong with hooey?”
Charlie chuckled at her indignant expression. “You sound like you’re from the nineteen twenties and much more laid back than I’ve seen you. The next thing you know, you’ll be saying the green flash is the bee’s knees.” She feigned a fake southern accent.
Harper leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs but looked back at her. “I can promise you, I’ve never in my life said anything is thebee’s knees.”
“Well, I never thought you’d say hooey, either.” She shrugged.
Harper rolled her eyes playfully and shook her head. Charlie had to resist the urge to play with the ends of her hair as they swayed. She found herself pulled into Harper’s gaze again and couldn’t look away. She’d never felt so connected to someone just by looking at them before and didn’t know how she felt about it. Though she knew she didn’t dislike it. She found the strength to clear her throat, breaking the connection, and pointed to the water. “I guess we should watch and see, huh? Otherwise, we’ll never know if there’s a green flash or not.”