The Angel of Zero City: Part 16

An urban-fantasy novella. It is an untold story between the chapters of its parent book: The Gauntlet of Maltese.

Unfinished

 

 

Joseph didn’t know who designed city hall, but it was a glass pyramid that jutted southward, like the bow of a ship three-fourths underwater. Its mirror-like windows reflected the city, the sunset, and the pink clouds above, and a small scarce park surrounded the building.

Joseph didn’t know whether to sit, or stand and keep a lookout for Esmeralda, and he wondered what kind of hangouts were around here. For the past week, it was like he was a younger man again, always looking for something new and interesting to experience. The area around here was foreign to him, but by the way the brass talked about the stooges at city hall, it might as well have been Hell.

Five minutes passed, and Esmeralda suddenly appeared from behind a tree, and Joseph hurried to meet her.

“Hey!” he said cheerily, and he quickly kissed her lips. “How was your day?”

Esmeralda kissed him back, but barely, and she stared at his chest. “It was fine, nothing to write home about.”

“Cool. Anywhere you wanna go tonight?”

“Not really. Actually … I have something to tell you.”

These words were familiar. The life drained from Joseph’s body, and his legs turned into led. “Yeah?”

“We’re not going to be dating anymore.”

A hand seemed to squeeze Joseph’s heart. Esmeralda began to explain, but there was a lot to take in, and the detective was too stunned to remember it all. She had met him at the end of a long relationship … or so she thought. There was someone else who had loved her, clashed with her, and then moved on when the coast was clear. But that same person held a twelve year piece of her life, and could read her like a book. He was as familiar as an old jacket, and now that person wanted her back.

“That night at dinner, when you told me how far you’d managed to move on past your ex-wife, it inspired me, and I thought I could move on too�"with you! But twelve years is a lot of history to try and leave behind. I’m sorry, Joseph. I’m really, really sorry, but I’ve got an unfinished relationship weighing on me. This has been�"” Joseph went white, and Esmeralda gripped him, “This has been the best week I’ve had in years.”

Joseph’s guts felt arctic, and he suddenly noticed that all the pain from being nearly beaten to death in an alley was gone. The ache in his heart had replaced it all. He tried to speak, but his voice was hoarse. “That ‘Ohh,’ you made when I said, ‘I wanted a Sunday kind of love,’ at the time I wasn’t sure if it meant affection or worry, but I guess now I know.”

Esmeralda couldn’t believe she had let things get so mangled. “I wanted to move on, but I didn’t plan on meeting you. You asked me out almost immediately, and I said yes, and everything was moving so fast I started to realize that I wasn’t ready for another relationship. I’m … sorry Joseph, but I can’t be with you right now.”

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but I had seen you before that day I walked into The Park. Almost every morning for a few weeks, I had walked by on my way to the prescient. It was just a glance through the window as you were filling the pastry box, but even from a distance I thought you were beautiful.”

Joseph felt a gambler’s struggle, when they know that the house, the machine, the cards, and Lady Luck herself has turned her back on a hopeless soul, and yet the gambler doesn’t stop. They keep pulling the leaver, even though they already know in their gut that it’s only a matter of time until their money runs out. At their core, Joseph’s next words were all yearning but no hope. “Okay. So I come on too strong. I’m too eager. Yeah, these are all tactical mistakes! But I have all of my marbles and�"and all of that is just a little social awkwardness. In the end I’m just trying to communicate that I’ve been in love with you sine I saw you, but I’m ready to compromise or take things slower, if you want. Don’t … don’t let it be over.”

Author's Note

This is a 19 part story. All of which are completed and are expected to be posted.