Early steps

She lit her first cigarette of the day and she savored that first, long drag of it. "Finally Friday" she muttered to herself as she made her way toward Starbucks as she does each morning, before the light of day is cast upon the coastline. A hint of morning dew could be felt and seen everywhere as it was coming in off the coast. Andrea began to collect her thoughts about the upcoming day, and what things she'll be looking at when the Stock Market opens. The only sounds she could hear was her own foot steps, from her new clogs trampling along a damped sidewalk, and the occasional car roaring by, however Andrea's mind was drifting; flash backs to when she would occasionally share this walk with someone. She quickly jettisoned that thought and replaced it with the market once again. Will the Fed keep interest rates down ? Will fuel prices continue to soar ? And what will become of that mess over in Europe ? After spending a few moments with Pat, and the baristas in Starbucks, she said good-bye and started back home. Andrea was smiling because although she tends to keep to herself, she does enjoy seeing these folks almost every morning. It provides her a sense of familiarity for each day. On her way back home, she stopped in front of the house just past 15th Street, as she usually does and lit up another smoke. As she started to make her way toward home, another flash back; he popped into her mind once again only this time, the memory of him wasn't going away quick enough. At first, Andrea really didn't want to think about Steve. Enough time had passed, and she was very glad for him to be out of her life but something was different. She started to think about how they would share that walk from time to time, and she recalled the laughter they shared, and she admitted only to herself that some of the most profound, thought provoking conversations occurred while with Steve. This lead to a deeper memory of him, of who he was and of his unfortunate childhood. And within a moment, Andrea couldn't help be shed tears, for there was a very small part of her life when she actually felt a sincere connectivity with another man. However, perhaps it was a combination of his painful past experience, and his total inexperience of how to handle a true relationship that caused her to pull away from him, to walk away and ask him to "please, go away, and do not contact me anymore. I want a lot a space away from you". She knew then as she does now that it was indeed a harsh action to inflict but to her it was good for him, and even better for her. But thinking of some of the laughter, and of the deep conversations they shared had her wondering about Steve; how he doing ? What's new with him ? The thought of emailing him even scratched the surface of her troubled mind but that was quickly dashed. She knew deep down that Steve was a good soul but he definitely was one who was better suited for another, even on a friendship basis. "No, I don't think so" she said firmly and quietly to herself as a response to the possibility of reaching out to him. Andrea started to walk up her drive way and there she found a bouquet of flowers with a card. She opened the card and it was from her new attraction, Evan. She smiled until the last line .. "I bet this is a first for you to receive flowers at this early hour .. enjoy ! " Andrea knew that it wasn't and these was one before Evan, and she truly didn't want to go back into a memory of Steve! What's done is done and there's no sense in looking back into the rear view mirror, especially about him. Before entering through her front door, she turned to look out toward the beach, look toward the Strand, toward the place where she and Steve used to walk and talk joyfully together. Andrea simply smiled for a brief moment, looked down, and closed the door.