Ryan 4

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Dearest Zöe,

I would be dishonest if I said that your email was not a shock to me, but a welcome shock.

Zöe, I’ll tell you more about your experience that you know later, but for now I totally sympathize with you and wish it could have been better.

It could have been better if I had been more honest.  Honest about you and honest about me.

I didn’t want to do all this in email or on the phone.  I wanted to talk to you in person which all fell apart previously.  Well, what’s done is done.

Let me just say that you came into my life like a thunderbolt.  I wasn’t looking for you.  I didn’t expect you.  I never imagined you.  But there you were on the shuttle bus from the airport to the conference.

I remember that day so clearly.  I was standing in the shuttle line right behind you.  We had never met but I saw your conference luggage tag.  All I thought was “conference luggage tag” and no more.  But, if you recall the shuttle was full and we ended up sitting next to each other.  You were on your cell phone and I pulled mine out to check Facebook or whatever.

Then we turned to each other because the shuttle hit a bump or there was some disturbance and we were looking at each other.  Awkward.  I said, “I see by your tag that you’re going to the conference.  I’m Ryan.  I work for Cop-co.”  You paused for a moment then said, “Zöe.  With Softworks Partners.”

That was it.  We went back to our phones and nothing more was said.

But, at the conference we kept bumping into each other.  At coffee or at presentations or in the lobby waiting for the shuttle.  We became sort of friends, conference buddies but that was it.

Except that wasn’t it.  By the end of the week I found myself thinking about you more and more.  I caught myself looking for you in the lobby or at coffee breaks and making excuses to talk with you.  There was something about you that was different.

Yes, we should talk.  I’m not sure I am at a spot where I can “tell all” but you never know.

Thanks for being open and honest with me. I wish I had as much “steel” as you.

All the best,

  Ryan

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Zöe,

I don’t know what I just did in replying to you and if you think it’s out of line I totally understand.  I would like to talk with you soon but if not I’ll understand.

Your friend,

  Ryan

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