Before he can answer, the waiter approaches, asking if he can get anything started for the table. Gloria still remembers how long it took for her and Rolando to place an order last time, promising their waitress they would take a look at the menu in just a moment, but the two kept joking around and laughing so hard that they were fighting for their next breath. She’s mourning a life of love and laughter and light as she orders a hot tea and waffles with maple syrup.

“I’ll just have a black coffee,” Rolando says.

“Nothing to eat?” Gloria asks before the waiter can.

“I just came from a . . . a meeting, you can say. I ate a bit there.”

A meeting? He’s not normally so vague.

Gloria wants to ask with who, but for the first time in a long time, the answer scares her.

What if Rolando had a breakfast date? Who’s the lucky woman? Will Gloria be strong enough to attend that wedding? Can she hold back the tears when meeting his child?

She will.

Gloria is a planner, and she plans to be happy for her best friend.

Once the waiter steps away, Gloria follows up with Rolando. “You quit?”

“It wasn’t a good fit for me. It’s probably too heavy to talk about right now,” Rolando says, glancing at Pazito. “Are you both going straight home after lunch? Maybe we can go to the park? We can talk some more then.”

“Park!” Pazito shouts, scaring the patrons in the booth behind him.

“It looks like we’re going to the park,” Gloria says.

She won’t be able to spend her life with Rolando, but they can have today.

Orion

12:38 p.m.

“Next stop: Brooklyn Bridge,” I announce in my best train conductor voice.

The bridge is a couple minutes away from the train station, the perfect one-two punch for Valentino’s tour. He doesn’t seem super hyped, though, or even slightly hyped. The Brooklyn Bridge is an iconic part of New York where he can take in views of the city; I can even point out where the Twin Towers once stood. But Valentino seems . . . pained?

“You good?” I ask. “I promise the bridge isn’t going to collapse under us.”

“I’m not concerned about the bridge. That sounds nice.”

“Okay, cool. Then what’s up?”

“I’m thinking about your secret.”

“The secret that stays in the secret station?”

“I implied I’d take it to my grave. I never said we wouldn’t talk about it.”