You were down at one of the QZ vendors, picking up a few essentials when you saw him, Joel. Even though the years hadn’t been kind, you recognized him. You two dates way back when, until he left you and found the woman he went onto marry. Greener pastures, you never held it against him.

But seeing him here… now, it was kind of surreal. The phrase small world was starting to hit way too close. He looked a lot less lively, but who didn’t? It’s hard to not have frown lines when you live in a place like the Boston QZ. You wanted to speak to him, but… it just didn’t seem right. Last you heard all those years ago, he had a daughter and a wife, no sense in rekindling old flames with a man who has a proper family.