Page 23 of Never Alone
"I feel like I've seen you somewhere."
"I'm always at this shop." I gave her the smile I gave customers. "Maybe you've come in before."
"Maybe."
She was still looking at me. Her hand had come up to her chin. Her partner was holding the bread bag now, polite, half-attending to his phone.
Then she gasped.
"Oh my God."
"Sorry?"
"You're the woman from the video!"
"I—what?—"
She was already pulling up her phone. The man looked up from his.
"The one with the firefighter!"
She turned the phone around and held it out to me.
I looked at the phone. My mind went blank. I could not be seeing this.
The clip was short. It opened with a man in firefighter gear lifting his mask off his face. He was crouched in front of a woman sitting on the grass with her arm around a child. The woman reached up. She put her hand on his face. She pulled him toward her. She kissed him. The clip ended on the freeze frame of the moment she had pulled back, both of their faces still close, his mouth still slightly open, her eyes still closed.
I was seeing myself in the moment I wanted to forget.
A view count under the clip read1.4M. The number ticked while I watched.1.4Mbecame1.5M.
"It's you, isn't it?"
I didn't know what to say.
The woman's partner tugged her sleeve. Once. The kind of tug a person used when they were telling someone they loved that they needed to stop.
"Babe."
"What?"
He gave her a look. She caught the look. She looked at her phone, looked at me, and looked at her partner.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I just—it really looks like you."
"Happens sometimes."
"Sorry."
"It's fine. Enjoy the bread."
The man took the bag with both hands now and steered her toward the door. She went, looking back over her shoulder one more time. The bell jingled. The door clicked shut behind them.
I stood at the counter for a beat that was longer than a beat. I pulled my own phone out of my apron pocket and typedfirefighter kiss house fireinto the search bar.
The first three results were the video. The fourth was the video. The fifth was a different cut, slowed down, set to a piece of music.
No.
