Aria’s POV
“Oh, no, I’m so sorry,” I said, moving forward at once, napkin forward at the ready.
Joe looked up. “Sorry, mister.”
The man accepted the napkin, then started to clean off his knee. “It’s alright, kid. It happens to the best of us. Though now you don’t have any ice cream.”
“Yeah,” Joe said sadly, looking down into his cone.
I touched Joe’s shoulder. “I’m terribly sorry. I should have taken his hand.”
“It’s alright,” the man said and looked up.
I stilled at once, finally looking at this man. He wasn’t some stranger as I had earlier presumed.
“Samuel?” I asked.
His eyes softened and he smiled. “Aria. I thought that was you, but I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“Why not?” I asked. “I can’t believe it’s you.”
Samuel had gone to the same college as I had, and since we took
