I asked the man in the office if we’d met before. It was just way to speak with him after all this time. I’d noticed him because he was noticeable. Tall, white haired and he said Hi to me every morning. In a New York office, you don’t have to say Hi and often don’t. But he did and I noticed.
He often worked in the dark, with just a lamp light and a box of Altoids. Well, more than that, but that’s just what I noticed in the beginning.

Later I noticed how soften-spoken he was. How he looked at me and what I imagined that look to mean. He was an academic and often went through papers rather than his laptop.

I want to speak more to him about him, but I know nothing and I’m afraid to get closer. I have no reason to. I shouldn’t. But I want to. I also noticed he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. Is this a growing trend? And frankly I’m already starting to take him for granted. im. I no longer bother to gush inwardly when he passes by. I’m finding faults with his maturity. I’m getting annoyed that he won’t make the first move. It’s already been five years since we moved into this office building. Sometimes I don’t see him for weeks on end.

So by the time I said I walked into his open office door and introduced myself, it was all rather anticlimactic.

Yeah, it’s over, I think, as we start to talk. But it was great while it lasted.