Wishful Thinking by Jenn O’Connor

We left his party early because he did not want me there and the place was too crowded with people whose faces you couldn’t remember. I suggested we walk to the fountain, so he let me kiss his cheek goodbye and shook your hand and might have watched us leave. We forgot to place our shoes on the granite steps but waded in waist high and emptied our pockets of pennies. You said you’d race me home in soggy sneakers and I hoped he’d call, though he wouldn’t, and you left me in the elevator to ride six floors alone.

Jenn O’Connor is the New York State director of a national nonprofit that advocates for proven investments in children and families, such as high-quality early learning. She has a degree in Creative Writing Arts. She lives in Albany with her 12-year-old foster daughter and four-year-old mini Labradoodle.