One More Day in the Park
A Short Story
Jake and I sat together on the bench almost every day in the park. He was reading a novel he had become deeply engrossed in, and I was his “couch” so-to-speak. He leaned against me as he read, and I peacefully soaked in his closeness while people-watching others as they strolled through the park.
This was a common activity for both of us during our trips to the park; Jake read, I watched. Sometimes I’d bring along my music, but on most days I left it at home, not wanting to take away from the experience of being outdoors on a nice day. I’m not a big reader, so outside of the occasional magazine, I rarely had reading material with me. It was enough to be with Jake while he read. It was easy enough for my mind to wander on its own as I daydreamed, and despite how wrapped up he always seemed to be in whatever it was he was reading at the time, I never felt as if he was ignoring me.
Jake and I met during our senior year of college. Both of us were education majors, and we ended up student teaching at the same middle school. Jake was teaching eighth-grade English, and I was teaching seventh-grade math. Prior to our student teaching semester, we’d run into each other on random occasions, but we’d never really had an opportunity to have lengthy conversations since our specialty areas were different. Nonetheless, we recognized each other at…
