I watched carefully as he returned her hug fondly enough. As they pulled away, Anna laid a little kiss on his cheek. A few more people crowded towards the popcorn stand and in the crowd, I was pushed apart from Phil, which put me on one side and Anna and Phil on the other.
“I’m good.”
“I heard you made it,” Anna said. “You’re finally a firefighter.”
“I am,” Phil nodded.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Phil replied.
“You were so nervous that you wouldn’t make it,” she continued, touching his arm unnecessarily. “But I always knew you would make it. You had it in you from the start.”
“You always believed in me too much.”
“I believed in you because you gave me a reason to,” she said. “How’s your brother, by the way?”
I felt another little spark of discomfort. Phil had never mentioned his brother to me. “I haven’t spoken to him in a while,” Phil’s voice was low with some emotion that I couldn’t name.”
“You haven’t visited him?” Anna asked.
“It’s been years,” he admitted.
I frowned. There was something I was missing—and apparently, despite our months’ worth of conversations, it seemed I didn’t know anything real about Phil.
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” he said, glancing over at me. “I’m being so rude. Anna, this is Megan. Megan, this is Anna.”
I shook her hand woodenly, mustering up the faintest smile I could manage. “Nice to meet you,” she said, but I couldn’t tell if she meant it or not. “What are you guys here to see?” she asked.
She addressed the question at me, but when I didn’t reply, Phil stepped in and spoke. I watched them go back and forth, and it was evident from their conversation that they had history. She was an old girlfriend obviously, but she had also been a significant relationship in Phil’s life to know things about him that I didn’t know about yet. I felt a little sick and I couldn’t stand there anymore.
As another rush of people crowded around us, I turned and lost myself in the crowd. I walked away from Phil and Anna, wondering if he would even notice that I was gone.
Chapter Nine
Phil
After so many years, seeing Anna again was a shock. She represented a part of my life that I had left behind, and seeing her reminded me of how far I’d come. She was still beautiful, still friendly as ever, still interested in my life and my family, but there were no feelings attached to her anymore.
“Anyway, Anna, it was nice seeing you again, but we’re on our first date and—”
“Uh, Phil?” she interrupted. “Your date has disappeared.”
With a start, I looked to my side and realized that Megan was no longer standing there. I looked around, trying to catch her among the sea of people.
“Where’d she go?” I asked.
“She didn’t look too happy to meet me,” Anna said gently. “Maybe that had something to do with it.”
I frowned. “That can’t be it.”
“I know jealousy when I see it,” she said. “As I recall, I was the jealous one when we were dating.”
“Fuck,” I cursed.
“Sorry if I fucked things up for you.”
“I gotta go, Anna,” I said, without bothering with a goodbye hug.