A what come true? I won’t be baited like this, even though I asked her on this date. “You’re doing it again. You’re trying to lure me in with some crazy gesture, some crazy statement, the verbal equivalent of diving into the pool right in front of me—” She’s already shaking her head, more pointedly than before.

“It’s not like that.”

“You just used the phrase dream come true. It doesn’t add up.” It’s risky to reference high school for a million reasons, but it’s now or never. “You hated me in high school.”

Jenny’s mouth drops open. Her face freezes with the shock, and then she tips her head back and laughs. “Are you kidding?” She brings both hands up to cover her mouth for a moment. “You’re kidding, right? I didn’t hate you. I had the world’s worst crush on you.”

I stare at her across the table, while a montage of memories from the year we were in high school together flash through my mind. Did I get it all wrong back then? Or did I not care if I was wrong or not? Granted, I had other things going on, like my impending graduation and other small disasters. “I never knew that. It was hard to tell because you were always glaring at me.”

Jenny covers her eyes with her hands as if she’s flinching at some buried memory. “First of all, I wasn’t...I wasn’t glaring. God, that’s embarrassing.” She uncovers her eyes, and I’m struck by the depth of the color there. “I was trying to figure out how to get you to notice me. It wasn’t until the end of high school, or maybe the beginning of college, that someone told me that when I’m lost in thought I can look pretty intense.” A shadow passes over her face. “There was only one time that I might have been glaring at you, but that was after you graduated.”

“After I graduated?” This is news to me. “We haven’t seen each other since school.”

“You know....” Jenny sits up straight and brushes her hair back over one ear. “I didn’t think you ever saw me while we were in school.” She presses her lips together and seems to make a decision. When she looks back at me, those green eyes are filled with determination. “I didn’t have the greatest time here, but it was my open house that made me want to leave town forever.”

“What happened?” The air around us seems alive with anticipation. Away from the office, something in Jenny has unlocked. I have the sensation of seeing two versions of her at once, and another falling feeling. It’s something like dread.