“Oh, the gentleman with the newspaper? He usually comes around ten.”
“Wonderful. Two coffees, please.”
Margaret called while we waited.
Margaret wanted me to stay away.
“Mom, please tell me you’re not actually looking for him.”
“I’m having coffee with Emma.”
“You know what I mean!”
“Then you know my answer.”
***
At ten fifteen, an elderly man entered carrying a folded newspaper.
He stopped when he saw me.
I’m having coffee with Emma.
His hand tightened around the paper.
“Zofia?”
I stood.
“Stanislaw?”
He nodded.
An elderly man entered.
Emma glanced between us.
“I think you two need a moment. I’ll wait in the car.”
She quietly left.
I didn’t embrace him. I didn’t cry.
Instead, I asked the question that had haunted me ever since the package arrived.
Stanislaw?
“Why didn’t you come?”
“He looked at me as though he’d been preparing an answer for sixty years.”
