Meeting again and then…

The long distance train sped through miles of suburbs towards downtown. Fields and occasional woods that accompanied the railroad earlier on had given way to streets and houses, interspersed with trees, spreading out as far as he could see. The train rushed along, elevated on an embankment, now and then crossing a street on a thundering steel bridge. Down there people were coming and going, doing life like any other day.

For Michael, this was not any other day. To be sure, he was regularly on trains or planes, traveling for work. Because there was always another consulting job in another town.

He was headed to one of those assignments. In another city, tomorrow. But today, he’d stop here, in this city.

As the train got closer to the main train station, he felt oddly excited. He’d boarded early this morning, barely awake, having skipped breakfast to make it to the station on time.

Now, after few naps and brunch in the dining car, he was looking forward to being back in this metropolis where he once lived. Plus, when he stepped off the train there, he’d meet Jody. They hadn’t seen each other in ages. And the last time had gone spectacularly badly.

After that disaster, he never thought he’d see her face to face again. Parting was the culmination of a slow burn of growing apart. Like two trains heading…