HAMISH MEETS AMANDA
Hamish watches people pass by, sipping irregularly from a cup of iced espresso with oat milk that he picked up from an NBA player’s side hustle artisanal coffee cart.
He notices a woman walking up the street, seemingly heading in his direction.
Though he’s been watching her approach, Hamish is still caught off guard when she stops, incredibly close, planting one foot on the upper step, just an inch from his lap.
Amanda bends over her knee, locking eyes with him. She pauses there, as if appraising him.
Hamish feels a quick hit of adrenaline and confusion, this unexpected closeness breaking through the haze of his otherwise isolated afternoon.
Amanda has winter-blonde hair and is strikingly pretty, a confusion of ski and surf style in a short Dior skirt paired with worker boots.
She exudes a mix of uptown weary and downtown wise, and her smile reflects both attitude and acumen.
Her voice, soft and more timid than he expected, breaks the moment. “Excuse me, sir.”
Hamish leans back on his arms, bracing himself behind him to create a bit of polite distance. “Um, sure… how can I help?”
Amanda shifts, now more direct, expeditious, all business in that unmistakable New York way.
“Can I get past you? These are my steps,” she says, tilting her head upward to point out that small but essential fact.
Hamish jumps up awkwardly, stepping off the stoop and onto the sidewalk to get out of her way, as Amanda skips past him, taking the steps two at a time toward the door.
As he begins to walk away, he turns his head just in time to catch Amanda singing out, “He’s so handsome,” clearly intended for him to hear.
The door opens for her, then swings shut behind. She never looked back, not since she’d lifted her head to point up the stairs.
Hamish smiles, quietly impressed by her game play.
His walk becomes more purposeful now. Amanda’s fleeting fly-by feels ephemeral and thinking of her, like a muse, formulates and nourishes his maturing sense of self.
Over the following weeks, Hamish passes that black townhouse countless times, but never sees Amanda again.
With each visit, the trees grew incrementally heavier with leaves that turned greener and the shade more essential, as summer in the city crept up on them.