The Yellow Umbrella

Winter (Mia)

New York City.

My city.

"Jesus you go to Jersey for what? Two seconds and you're already married." Kat laughed her signature nasally laugh.

Flurries trickled from the sky, fluttering gently down to sidewalk and into my hair

"It's not like that." I mumbled, stopping in the street to watch the beauty that was the city in the winter.

The snow was falling harder than before and to my surprise, I wasn't as used to all the people walking around as I used to be. Everything in Jersey felt faraway, distant. The closest supermarket near my house was twenty minutes away, not like the bodega below my apartment building.

It was weird how every fiber in my body ached to come back to my home of seventeen years, yet being there now, I felt so out of place. Everyone seemed to be walking faster than me, looking at me as if I were a tourist. If they were even looking at me. It may have all been in my head, but it felt as if I was absent from school for a week and everything changed. Were the taxis always that restless? Were people always in a rush? I felt so out of the loop.

But one thing still rang true.

I loved New York City, especially in the winter. The twinkle from the little white lights the city strung up to the way the atmosphere changed when snow fell. I loved the relentless energy. I could practically feel the air itching for change, the promise of a new year. Kat pulled her bright red faux fur jacket around her tighter and pulled me into a bookstore without warning. The warm air greeted us as the little bell on the door tinkered.

"Sorry, darling, it was unbearably cold." Kat explained and made a beeline for the back of the store. She never really knew where she was going, but she made it a habit to make it seem that way.

I looked longingly out the window and stared at the buildings reaching towards the sky. Everything was wrapped in cheery Christmas lights and holiday music. My eyes followed a taxi speeding towards what I assumed was Penn Station. The city was a tourist trap around Christmas time. Was I considered a tourist or a temporary resident?

I turned away from the window. I didn't really feel like catching up to Kat, or hearing her go on a tangent about veganism or meat is murder, so I walked to the nearest shelf and pulled a random book out. That was my favorite thing to do, the little surprises books could bring us. Opening to a random page, I read the first line that caught my eye.

"... I just love him okay? With all my heart. And I'll be damned if he doesn't know that."

I slammed the book shut.

"Thriller?" A deep voice asked behind me.

I dropped the book and spun around. It made a soft thud against the stained carpet.

Okay, he was cute. Maybe nineteen or twenty, with curly red hair peeking out from a grey beanie. He still couldn't compete with my mane though. A piece of me was irritated that I dropped the book and gave him the upper hand. I plucked at another book and said boringly, "Yeah..." I let my voice trail off in fake disinterest.

He smiled at my coyness and reached for the book. Watching from the corner of my eye, I felt my stomach drop a little at the realization that he would see through my act.

"Temptation to Tell, the story of a woman who loves a married man." He read slowly, "I know I should say no judgement...."

"Mia." I answered.

"Pretty." He nodded, "But what's so scary about a romance?"

Leaning against the shelf, I sighed and toyed with my hair, "Everything, from the initial meeting to-"