The time passed slowly as Danica counted the days that passed. She had put forth everything to make it work with Tanner, but now they were out of time. From the start something was always off and there was a lack of trust and mutual respect, a power imbalance. Tears flowed down her face involuntarily, but she wasn’t sad.

Her short shoulder length brown hair was full and flipped to the side dramatically swooshing her bangs across her face.

Her Manhattan loft with the exposed beams echoed as tunes floated out of her sound system. Light flooded her open space from the oversized windows and the neon signs outside. It was getting late, but she resolved to walk around the city and grabbed her brown leather jacket off the upholstered accent chair beside the door. The door slammed behind her as she entered the expansive hallway that featured abstract paintings.

At that same moment her neighbor Tyler was walking down the wall carrying a bag of take out.

“Danica! How are you? I knew I would run into you eventually” Tyler said, “Come in for a drink, I just mastered crafting espresso martinis.”

“Hey, I am just heading out I’ll have to catch you next time.” She replied.

She clutched her leather Super Dry messenger bag and made her way around Tyler and b-lined it towards the industrial loft elevator. The last thing she felt like doing was catching up with an old friend. She had only spent a short time with Tanner but was trying to make a swift recovery.

Danica met Tanner at a Ted X event that had come to town. They were both around the same age, both never married, and both worked in broadcasting. It was raining outside of the building, and the streets were smelling salty as sweet. She could go anywhere in the city, but she resolved to walk along the Hudson River.

Across town in the East Village Tanner was sitting across Sadie Hart. Deep house and down beat tempos pulsed through the air of his Duplex. Sadie was in the business of entertainment law and met Tanner in the preceding months while working on a media contract on the show he produced. He was intrigued by her the moment he had met her and the last thing on his mind was Danica.

He laughed and slid his hand over Sadie’s smooth skin respectfully as he talked with her. She was intelligent, sophisticated, and strategic. Tanner never had much appreciation for Danica’s creative artistic bravado. It just wasn’t his style. Yet, he was drawn to her for reasons he didn’t know.

“I want you to move to the East Village with me” Tanner confessed to Sadie.

The rain was coming down harder as Danica walked along the river. It was a sad scene but it was precisely what she needed to relax and feel the emotions course through her perfect 140lb body. Water slipped off her Tecova boots and thunder cracked in the sky overhead.

It was downright dangerous to be out at this point, so she made her way to a record store. A bell chimed as she entered the door and walked down the isles of records. Waves of anxiety kept swirling in her stomach, and she had begun to succumb to the torment of her emotions while debating on buying a Britney Spears album. She knew this would pass shortly.

 Her phone started to ring “Incoming Call : Forrest”.

She jumped to answer the phone and relaxed as soon as she heard Forrest say hello. He was her best childhood friend and completely unaware of the escapade that Danica had been involved in with Tanner. It had been months since they talked.

“Hey! What’s up!?” Danica said.   

‘I just got back from the camping retreat, you wouldn’t believe who I saw there.’

“Who?”

‘Delaney’

“I hope you’re not thinking…”

‘It was just a casual crossing of paths; I just never thought I would see her again’

“Why are you surprised, didn’t you run into each other all the time in Denver”

‘I never told you, but she stayed with me in Manhattan a few years ago. It was brief and I thought it was the end of things, but this time I think it’s different’

Danica was secretly in love with Forrest and couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was wishing she didn’t pick up the phone. Forrest also didn’t know about Tanner because Danica didn’t tell anyone that she was seeing him. Her heart sank, but she supported Forrest, always. Even if he did want to be with Delaney who she had known of but never knew.