Free Somewhere Between Black and White by Rosa Sophia, Shelly Hickman

responsibility . That’s from
Spiderman, you know.”
    “Yeah, I know. But that’s strike two.”
    “Uh. . . .” She thought a little longer,
uncrossing and crossing her legs. “ Do or do not. There is no try ,” she
said in her best Yoda voice.
    Sam smirked. “What the hell was that?”
    “What? Everyone knows Yoda has the best
quotes.”
    “Those are really long guesses. You
think this one little symbol is going to say all that?”
    “How should I know? I don’t know how to
read Chinese. I thought one of those little lines could be a whole word.”
    “One.”
    “One?” she repeated.
    “The symbol means one .”
    “ Ohhhhh! ” She nodded her head, before
frowning with confusion. “One what?”
    “We’re all one,” he said, briefly
twirling his finger in a circular motion. “Everything’s one.”
    She raised her eyebrows, impressed. “That’s
very deep,” she commended. “And cool. How old were you when you got the tattoo?”
    He peered up at the ceiling and thought
for a moment. “I think about twenty.”
    “So. . . .” Sophie crept over to him
along the floor and took his arm and wrapped it around her. “How long have you
been this complicated, reflective guy? Were you like that as a child?”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t call myself complicated.
I consider myself very un complicated. But reflective?” He tilted his
head, as if he would agree with that term. “Let’s just say I was a very inquisitive
kid. Always observing.”
    “I see.”
    “Now, I have something to ask you.” He
lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “How is it that you’re not married?
That someone hasn’t snatched you up. How old did you say you were? Fifty-two?
Fifty-three?”
    “Very funny.” She knew this conversation
would eventually come, because she had the same question about him. “There’s
nothing deep and dark about it. For one thing, I haven’t really dated a whole
lot of people, so when you add that to the fact that it’s tricky finding
someone you’re compatible with, well, there ya have it.”
    Sam pursed his lips with concentration
and nodded. “So, how many is not a whole lot?”
    “Not a whole lot,” she repeated,
starting to feel weird about this discussion. “I don’t know.” She started
counting in her head. “Five . . . six . . . over the last ten years. And I
wouldn’t even call a couple of them dating —more like three or four dates .”
Why was this making her so uncomfortable? “Is that bad?”  
    Did she really just ask him if that was
bad? Oy! Why was she seeking his approval?
    “I don’t know!” He laughed. “It’s not
bad or good, I was just wondering.”
    “Well, what about you ? Why
haven’t you settled down?”
    “Maybe I’ve been waiting for you .”
    She straddled his lap and touched his
face, as if she were about to say something very sweet. “Nice try, but you’re
not gonna sidetrack me that easily.”
    “Okay.” He exhaled, running his hands
back and forth over her thighs. It seemed like he was stalling. “I was engaged,
to someone I was with for years.”
    Sophie’s heart dropped. She didn’t like
that. She didn’t like it at all. “How long were you with her?” she asked.
    “Four years.”
    “How long were you engaged?”
    “A year,” he answered. 
    Ouch, this was painful! The thought of
him almost marrying someone. Someone that wasn’t her. She climbed off of his
lap and sat beside him. “So what happened?”
    He shrugged, staring at his hands. “We
wanted different things. I wanted kids. She didn’t. And each of us believed we’d
change each other.” He gave her a half-cocked grin. “Lesson learned, right?”
    She tried to think of something to say
that wouldn’t reveal she was crushed, because she had absolutely no reason to be.
This heaviness inside was so stupid! “If I said I’m sorry it didn’t work out,
I’d be lying,” she said. “But I’m sorry if you were hurt.”
    “It’s okay, Sophie.”
    Now she just felt