She slows down and I think maybe I’m getting to her. But then she lifts her chin and walks faster. We cross the street and near the bakery. It’s closed this time of night, it’s almost nine o’clock.

“I’m going back to the library, getting in my car, and driving home. Tomorrow, I’m going to get up and try again. No matter what you say and no matter what you do.”

“Jessie. Don’t be a fool.” It’s only been two days of this madness, well two days and two decades, but I want so badly for it to stop.

“A fool? Who is the fool? I finally found my soul mate. I’d be a fool not to go after him. Okay, maybe he doesn’t want me, or like me, maybe he doesn’t see me, but he could. If I don’t try, then what? Then I’d be the fool.” She slows her pace and comes to a stop at the bakery window.

“Sometimes I wonder, if even my soul mate doesn’t want me, then who will?” Her voice breaks and I see her sitting in the tree, telling me that her mom’s gone, that her dad doesn’t want her, and that she’s all alone. A tear trails down her cheek and she angrily wipes it away. She turns her face away from me. I feel unequal to this moment. I don’t have the words. Me, I want to say, you’d have me.

“I…” I begin. She looks at me and I swallow the lump in my throat.

“I know. You don’t have to say it. I’m a fool. He’s getting married, he’s not interested, I’m not his type, blah, blah, blah. I know.” Her voice breaks again, and I want to reach out to her.

“But you know what?” she asks.

I shake my head. “What?”

“I disagree. I believe in love. I believe in fate. And even if I have to get drenched in coffee, or spaghetti, or…whatever…I’m going to keep trying. Because…” She pauses, then tilts her chin up and continues. “Because I have a lot of love to give. A lot. And I’ve been waiting my whole life to give it to that boy I fell in love with a long time ago. So…so there.”

I don’t say anything. I just stand there and take in the passion coloring her cheeks and the spark in her eyes. I want her so badly it hurts.

A water drop hits me in the forehead. Then another. Jessie looks around, and an expression of shock then guilt comes over her. The sparse drops turn to a light shower. Jessie closes her eyes and groans.

“Jessie?”