After her tour ended some hours later, Eddie stood outside Baker's Baked Goods, fiddling with her thumbs. After stopping by Barry's apartment to make sure he was doing okay, she let him be. And now, here she was, outside of this local bakery she knew about but made a point to avoid.

You can do this, she thought. You have to do this.

She pushed open the door.

*Ding a ling*

The tiny bell attached to the door made it's noise.

"Sorry, but we're closing in five minutes," a man said looking down at the counter. "What we have left on the display shelves are all we got."

"Fine with me," Eddie said.

The man stopped his movements as he heard a voice from the past. He looked up. "Eddie? Eddie Janko?"

Eddie smiled. "Hi, Paul."

"Eddie," Paul said. "Uh… Hi."

"Hi," Eddie said bashfully.

"Long time," Paul said.

"Yeah – real long time."

"Um…" Paul said. "It's good to see you, but, like I said, we're closing in…" he checked his watch, "four minutes."

"Well, uh, let's see," Eddie said, scanning the shelves. "I'll take the chocolate chip brownie and the blueberry muffin."

"Alright," Paul said, making quick work of grabbing the brownie and the muffin.

Neither Paul nor Eddie spoke a word, yet the silence said a lot. Misunderstanding. Miscommunication. Regret. The desire to have a do-over of certain times in your life even though you know there's no going back…

Ten years prior in college, Paul Baker had a crush on a certain gal named Eddie Janko. As it turned out, Eddie liked him, too. So, imagine his joy when she agreed to going out on a date. The date went smoothly and Paul, ever the gentleman, dropped Eddie off at her campus apartment.

"I had a great time," Eddie said, giving him her best I-really-want-to-sleep-with-you smile.

Oblivious, Paul said, "I had a good time, too. Maybe we could do this again?"

"Why don't we do it, now?" Eddie said, voice dripping with desire.

It didn't click with Paul what Eddie meant. Until it did.

His eyes widened. "Oh," was all he could muster as his cheeks turned bright red.

"Don't worry," Eddie half-whispered, the tip of her pointer finger delicately stroking his arm. "I promise I'll be gentle."

Paul gulped.

"Eddie…" Paul finally said, shifting from side to side. "I'm really flattered. But, um. I'm… Saving myself for marriage."

Eddie stopped smiling. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm saving myself for marriage," Paul repeated. "I'd really like to see you again, but… That's a line I can't cross."

Eddie crossed her arms, clearly not happy. "What are you, religious or something?"

Before he could answer, she continued.

"Wait... You're not gay, are you? That must be it, because no straight man would say what you just said."

"I'm more spiritual than religious," Paul answered firmly, "and, no, I'm not gay. And I can't believe you're acting this way."

"Puh! Well, I can't believe you are acting this way!" She got closer.

"Don't tell me you don't want this," she said, placing a warm kiss on his neck.

Paul lightly pushed her away. "I think you need to go," he said firmly. "This was a mistake."

"Oh yeah!" Eddie concurred, but for opposite reasons. "A huge mistake!" She began to walk to her apartment building, but just as she started, she spun around to face Paul again. "You are a huge waste of time and space. I can't believe I even thought about sleeping with you…"

And now, here they both were, ten years later at the bakery that had been in Paul's family for generations.

Paul rang up Eddie's chocolate chip brownie and blueberry muffin. "That'll be… $7.75."

Eddie pulled out her debit card and inserted into the card machine.

"Would you like a receipt?" Paul asked.

"No, thanks," Eddie replied.

"Okay, here you go," Paul said. "Enjoy!"

"Actually," Eddie said cautiously. "There is one more thing."

"No problem," Paul said, "what else would you like?"

"I would really like it," Eddie said, looking right into Paul's eyes, "if we could talk."

Paul and Eddie stared at each other for a beat.

"Please?" Eddie pleaded.

Paul nodded. "Um… Sure. Let me just close-up the place." He walked over to the door, locked it, and turned on the neon sign that said Closed.

"So, uh," Paul began. "Um, full disclosure… I do have an apartment upstairs if you're more comfortable talking there than down here where everyone walking by can see us."

"My how the tables have turned," Eddie said jokingly. "Now I'm just right outside your apartment."

Paul chuckled. "Yeah, I guess when you put it that way…"

"But really," Eddie said. "I'm fine here."

"Okay," Paul said with a shrug.

They sat at a table in the bakery exchanging polite smiles for a couple seconds which felt like minutes.

"I wanted to talk," Eddie finally said, "about us."

"There was an us?" Paul asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"For, like, twenty-four hours!" Eddie said with a laugh and a grin. "You asked me out on a… Friday at around 9pm and we went to dinner the next night at about 7pm…"

"And it all went well until about 9pm!" Paul said with a laugh and a sad smile.

"Yeah…" Eddie said, trying to smile, but finding it hard to do so.

Paul raised his hands apologetically. "I'm… I'm sorry, that was a low blow."

"No," Eddie said. "It's not, it's totally not."

"Kind of is."

"No," Eddie said, placing a soft hand on top of Paul's. "It's not."

The silence was, indeed, awkward.

"Truth is," Eddie said, looking down at the table and then looking up at Paul, "no amount of apologies I give could even come close to communicating how absolutely sorry I am for that night."

"What I said to you," she continued, "was ignorant, disgusting and shameful on so, so many levels and I…" Tears slowly escaped her eye as her voice began to crack. "I am so very sorry."

Paul grabbed a napkin from a napkin dispenser on the table and handed it to Eddie.

"Thank you," she said as she dabbed her eyes.

"I was very naïve back then," Paul said, looking out to the distance. He then turned his attention back to Eddie. "I didn't realize you expected…"

"But that's the thing," Eddie insisted, still sniffing. "I shouldn't have expected anything. Just like a man isn't entitled to sex with a woman just because he takes her out to dinner or drinks, a woman shouldn't think she's entitled to sex if she goes out on a date with a man."

Paul nodded.

"I'm a cop and I know that," she continued. "Hell, I knew it even back then, but… I still acted like I was entitled to it and that was wrong and my reaction to you when you said 'No' was all levels of wrong and…" The tears threatened to flow once again.

Paul pulled out another napkin and gave it to her.

Eddie huffed a silent laugh. "Thank you," she repeated. She dabbed her eyes like before.

"For whatever it's worth," Paul said softly, "I forgave you a long time ago. We were kids, then." He smiled wistfully. "But when I went out with you that night, I felt so grown up."

Eddie smiled and laughed, flattered but embarrassed at the same time.

"We made quite a pair," Paul said. "For twenty-four hours, at least." He smiled and winked.

"We did," she acknowledged. "We did."

"So…" Paul began, changing the subject. "Cop, huh?"

"Yep," Eddie said proudly. "Been one for almost five years, now."

"Wow," Paul said. "You like it?"

"It has its moments," Eddie confessed. "Most of the time, it's great and you feel like you're really making a difference. Sometimes, you feel like you're just punching air."

Paul nodded.

"But that's only ten percent of the time. Ninety percent of the time, it's good."

"Enough about me," Eddie said. "What about you? Is there a Mrs. Baker lined up for you?"

Paul rolled his eyes. "Oh, you didn't see the prettiest women of New York City lined up out there?" he said with a laugh.

Eddie's mouth went agape. "I must've missed them!" she said, hand on her cheek in mock shock.

"Truth be told," Paul said, taking on a sad look in his eyes. "There was a Mrs. Baker."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he continued. "We were married for four amazing years and…" He looked down at the table, then back up at Eddie. "She started having these horrible headaches. Turned out to be a brain tumor that was inoperable."

Eddie's mouth dropped. "Paul…" she said breathlessly. "I'm so sorry."

"In the end," Paul sighed, "she went quickly, which, horrible as it sounds, I'm glad she went quickly as opposed to slow and painful."

Eddie nodded. "I understand completely."

"People have told me I'll find love again, but… Lightning only strikes once, you know?"

"It can happen, though," Eddie offered.

"I suppose," Paul said. He rolled his eyes in self-recrimination. "I'm sorry to have said all that to you. We, we haven't even seen each other in ten years… I'm sorry."

"Hey," Eddie said, placing a hand on his arm. "No problem."

"But what about you?" Paul asked. "Has lightning struck for you?"

Eddie smiled. "Well, it has. It's really serious."

"As in 'we're going to get married' serious?" Paul asked.

"As in 'he's going to be popping the question soon' serious," she answered.

Paul smiled. "That's incredible! You know what?" He clapped his hands. "Just for that, you get a choice of a free dessert on the house!"

"You know the way to a girl's heart!" Eddie laughed. "But I can't accept that."

"Why not?"

"Because cops aren't allowed to take freebies," she explained. "Besides, you want to hear the most ironic part?"

"What's that?"

Eddie shook her head. "Barry, my boyfriend, is saving himself for marriage."

Paul's eyes went wide. "You mean…?"

"Yep," Eddie said. "He's a virgin."

Paul burst forth in uproarious laughter. He then stopped himself. "Sorry," he said.

"Oh, I totally deserve it!" Eddie said.

"It's just…" Paul laughed. "After you and me…"

"Tell me about it!" Eddie said, hands held up like a shrug.

*Bing Bing* *Bing Bing* *Bing Bing*

Paul pulled out his phone. "Ah, crap," he muttered.

"What's that alarm for?" Eddie asked.

"It's a reminder that my delivery guy will be here tomorrow at 4 in the morning," Paul explained.

"Ouch!" Eddie winced. She looked at the time on her phone. It was already 10PM. "Perhaps that's my cue."

"I'm sorry," Paul said regretfully.

"Hey, we all got to go to bed, sometime!" Eddie said with a smile.

As Paul walked Eddie to the entry door of the bakery, a blessed peace overtook them.

"I'm…" Paul began. "I'm really glad you came."

"Me, too," Eddie said, a sad smile creeping onto her face. "I'm just sorry it took ten years."

"Hey," Paul said, "no more apologies. All is forgiven. Just promise you won't wait another ten years to visit."

"I promise," Eddie said. "And… If it's okay, I'd like to do something I should have done that night."

"And what's that?" Paul said with a chuckle.

Eddie leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his cheek for one, two, three, four, five seconds. She pulled away, smiling tenderly.

"Have a good night, Paul."

Paul smiled softly. "You, too, Eddie."

Eddie winked at Paul and walked out of the bakery.