I am Sam...

You are cute. I am Sam...I don't know if you saw me, but I was standing near your car in the parking lot. I was the guy in scrubs. (650)362-4172

"But I know Frank is a dream too," AL said about the man she'd been seeing for two years now, "One day, I'll wake up and he won't be there anymore."

A second ago, both of us had been laughing at the note someone left in the car window. Now she slouched with her hands gripping the wheel at 10 and 2, staring intently at the traffic-less late-night N-405.

We had noticed the note fluttering in her window, and she had pulled over to grab it.

"Is it a ticket?"

"It's probably a note telling us not to park there." We had parked in a shopping center a block from where we ended up eating dinner. She kidded, "Maybe it's a love note."

As she re-entered traffic, I opened it and read it to her.

"Did you see them?" I asked, referring to the three men who had been standing, chatting, in the parking lot by her car. I could only recall one--a balding man with a paunch and a tired beige suit and a worn leather briefcase, a professional and the oldest of the three.

"Yeah, the scrubs guy was the cutest."

"So are you going to reply?"

"Yeah, I'll text him later."

We talked about dating, guys, crushes.

She said, "It's good when they're just crushes. Everything's lighthearted."

"Cause they're not real; it's all just a dream."

"But I know Frank is a dream too. One day, I'll wake up and he won't be there anymore."

We sat in silence for a beat.

"Forget Frank! I've got this Indian scrubs guy now."

And we laughed, because there was nothing else we could do.