Kintsugi

Part 4

Artemis let Brucely into the apartment. He bounded over to his water dish. She put up his leash and sat down on the couch. She pulled out her phone. "Hey, Zee."

"Artemis!"

"Yes?"

"Why did you wait so long to call me? I've been waiting for two days!"

"Well, I didn't get in until late," she explained, "and then you had your show."

"You still could have called. I want to know how things went with Mitchell."

"Fine."

"Fine? I want details, Artemis."

Artemis fed Brucely a treat. "We had drinks. Ate some nachos. Talked for a while."

"How long is a while?"

"A couple of hours."

"That's good, isn't it?"

She sighed. "I don't know, Zee."

"Why not?"

"Don't get me wrong. Mitchell's a nice guy. I like him."

"I'm glad that you can finally admit that."

"He's asked me to a baseball game."

"Please tell me you said yes."

Artemis sighed. "I said that I would think about it."

"Artemis!"

"What!"

"Call him back and say you'll go."

"Why?"

"Because you like him. Because you had a good time with him the other night." It was Zatanna's turn to sigh. "Besides, you like baseball."

There was silence for several moments before Artemis said, "But he's not Wally."

"Oh, honey, of course, he's not Wally."

"I guess that this is just admitting that he's really, truly gone."

"Wally's not gone, not really. Not as long as we continue to remember him. But he would be the first one to tell you to live your life."

Artemis thought back to Zatanna's spell. That was what exactly the dream Wally had done. He had pushed her to move on. She was the one who kept hesitating, who kept clinging to the past.

"You're right," she said. "I'm always going to have Wally in this special place in my life. But he wouldn't want me to keep holding on to memories instead of living my life."

"Exactly."

"I'm going to give Mitchell a call and see if he still wants to do the game."

"I think you should." Zatanna was quiet for a moment before saying, "Don't wait two days to call me with the details."

"Sure, Zee."

"I'm serious, Artemis!"

"Bye, Zatanna."

scene changescene changescene changescene changescene change

Mitchell was waiting for her outside the entrance of the ballpark. He was wearing a t-shirt for the local AA team they were going to watch. He handed her a ticket and a baseball hat featuring the team's logo.

Artemis accepted both with raised eyebrows. "Okay. Why a hat?"

Mitchell began leading her into the stadium. "Well, this way you already have your souvenir. You can ditch me whenever you want."

She put the hat on and took his arm. "Well, I wasn't planning on leaving until you at least bought me a hot dog and a beer."

He laughed. "I think I can manage that."

They found their seats.

They analyzed the game. She was happy to find him very knowledgeable about baseball. They had a long discussion on the designated hitter.

He bought them hot dogs and beer. They cheered on the home team mascot during the mascot race during one of the breaks between innings. She bought them popcorn during the seventh inning stretch.

"Still sticking around?" he joked as he accepted his popcorn.

She shrugged. "Still having a good time."

He grinned. "Me, too."

They stayed through the end of the game. The home team won. They watched the celebratory fireworks.

They were walking very close together as they left the ballpark. She agreed to let him drive her home. They kept up the easy chatter on the walk up to their apartments. But it faded into an awkward pause outside her door.

"Thank you, Mitchell," she said. "I had a great time."

"Me, too." He gave her a hopeful smile. "Maybe we can do something again soon?"

She studied him for a moment before nodding. "I'd like that."

Before she could stop herself, she stepped up and gave him a quick kiss. "Good night, Mitchell."

She was already darting into her apartment when she heard, "Good night, Artemis."