It was a fine day to be in Central Park, the kind that made Tina glad to be in New York. She was in a mile-long line waiting to get tickets for Shakespeare in the Park. Earlier she had told Allan she would spend the afternoon there doing some reading while she waited to get the tickets. He would come by later. She was prepared for the long wait; she had gone to Zabar’s first and gotten crabmeat sandwiches, coleslaw, cheese, apples, and baklava. She had a blanket for sitting on the ground and her books.

She had everything but the expectation of seeing Jason Jowers there. He was ahead of her in the line, seemingly alone; it had been two summers since she had last seen him. He looked the same: tall, rangy, dressed in a lightweight suit the jacket of which he held over his arm; his short-sleeved shirt was open at the neck and the striped tie he had worn dangled out of his jacket pocket. He was glancing through a section of the Times. Should she leave? she wondered, suddenly confused. Should she put on her sunglasses and disguise herself so that he wouldn’t recognize her? Should she be cool and do nothing, letting what would happen, happen?

Should she miss this chance to speak to him after not having seen him for so long? She wrestled with everything: her shame for the way she had run out on him in the past; her feelings about him, which she recognized as still with her and still strong; her own self-interest, which said Jason is the right one—do what’s best for you.

The sight of Jason disturbed her; she found she couldn’t get into her reading. She gave up trying to read and concentrated on the life around and about her as her mind reeled with the possibilities of a meeting with Jason, and she almost willed him to turn around and see her. Immediately near her was a group of four playing bridge on a straw mat; a young woman was feeding her baby in a stroller; others were chatting, napping, just sitting. The day was not completely clear, there was a faint haze that kept the sky from blueness. It was hot. Tina continued to concentrate on the life around her, trying to decide what to do about Jason. What if he rebuffed her? She certainly deserved it, but how would it be, there, in front of that whole crowd of people, if he turned on her and told her what he thought of her? She was not into self-destruction, and if Jason turned her away, that’s what it would amount to.