Glitter, Guts, Glory

I saw Tessa for the first time in nearly eight years on Montgomery Ave. It was funny, actually; her last name just happened to be Montgomery. The last time I saw her it was, I mean. Anyway, I had accompanied Theo that morning for his suit fitting, since he was getting married in a few days. His fiance's name was Leanne and she was sweet, practically my wife's best friend. My wife had accompanied Leanne to a dress fitting, so we decided to meet for lunch. And there she was, swinging open the door out of the dentist's office and nearly hitting me.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" she placed a hand on my arm. "Are you okay?" she continued on. I recognized her almost right away. "Hold on a sec... do I know you?" she took her hand away and squinted like she was trying to see me in a better light. I just shrugged and took a small step back. "Wait, Leo? Leo D'Angelo?" she grinned real wide.

"Yep, that's me," I reply politely. The wife mellowed me out, what can I say?

I think she thought about hugging me, but just settled on grinning even wider and clapping her palms together once. "I knew it! It's Tessa, from the bookstore? Tessa Montogom- well, Tessa Nelson now. It's been, what-nine years?"

Math has never been my forte. "Yeah, hi. It's good to see you again." It wasn't good to see again. She practically ruined everything in the first place. "How's the uh, music thing?"

"Oh, that didn't work out too well," she looked at the cracks in the pavement. "The rest of the band decided they had bigger and better things up their sleeves."

"Ah. Well." I pointedly look at my watch. Tessa had never been good at taking hints.

"It just wasn't meant to be, you know? Anyway, I wanna hear all about you! How's the family? Any Leo juniors?" she met my eye with the same smile Mr. Nelson must have fallen for. I glanced across the street to the diner where I was supposed to be meeting her. I saw her sitting on a bench in front by herself. One hand was on top of her belly, of which another few months would surely betray the baby that was growing inside. I caught her eye and she smiled.

"No Leos. We have a Rose, and another one on the way," I told her. My eyes were still locked on my wife, but I sensed Tessa's face falling.

"That's great. You know, we should get together some time. Catch up, you know?" I told her, sure, that'd be fine. But I didn't want to catch up with Tessa. She'd make me remember things.

And some things, I just don't want to remember.