Someone said their name at work

Someone said their name at work.

Just in passing. Just context

for a story that had nothing to do with you.

But it stopped you.

You have no idea what they're doing now.

You don't know if they're still in the same city,

if they ever finished school,

if they think about you,

if they noticed when you stopped calling.

The distance between who you were

and who you are now

is too big to cross

without explanation.

Without apologizing.

You never called to apologize.

And now it's been so long

that an apology would just be

opening something that already closed.

So you nodded when they said the name

and went back to your desk

and didn't look up the number

you used to know by heart.