She went back to Grounded on Friday, telling herself it was for the chai and not for the man with the paperback. The chai was good. The man was not there.

She sat at his table anyway.

On Saturday, she went again. Still no George. She felt stupid. She felt like a teenager. She felt like she should just accept that she'd had a nice moment with a stranger and that was the end of it.

On Sunday, she didn't go. She graded more essays. Kate Chopin had somehow become Kate Chopstick in three different papers. She wanted to scream.

On Monday, she went back. And there he was.

Same table. Same book—well, a different book now, a blue one with a bird on the cover. Same coffee ring from the last time? No, different coffee ring. He was a repeat offender.

She walked past him to the counter. Ordered her chai. Walked back past him to her table—the corner table was free today, but she didn't take it. She sat at the table next to his again.

"You came back," he said.

"They have good chai."

"They do." A pause. "I'm glad."

She didn't know if he meant he was glad about the chai or glad she came back. She didn't ask.

They sat in silence again. But this time, after ten minutes, he closed his book and turned toward her.

"Can I ask you something weird?"

"Okay."

"Do you ever feel like you're too much for people? Like you feel things bigger than they do, and you have to shrink yourself so you don't scare them off?"

She stared at him.

"That's a very intense question for a second conversation," she said.

"I know." He didn't apologize. "You don't have to answer."

She thought about it. About the way she loved her students' bad essays because they'd tried. About the way she cried at commercials. About the way her last boyfriend had said you're a lot in a tone that wasn't a compliment.

"Yeah," she said. "Sometimes."

He nodded. Like she'd confirmed something he already knew.

"Why?" she asked.

"Just looking for someone who understands."

He opened his book again. Left the question hanging in the air between them.

She didn't leave for another hour.