Three Thousand Miles

The comment section started it.

I'd posted a photo of my coffee, basic, I know, but it was a really good latte, and someone replied with a correction to my caption. A gentle correction, but a correction nonetheless. Something about the Ethiopian beans I'd mentioned being from a specific region I'd gotten wrong.

I should have been annoyed. Instead, I clicked on her profile.

Amara Okonkwo. PhD student in Agricultural Sciences, focusing on sustainable coffee farming. Nigerian-American. Posts about plants, food justice, and occasionally her cat, who was named after a Supreme Court justice.

Also: gorgeous. Dark skin, natural hair in beautiful twists, a smile that showed up in every photo like it couldn't be contained.

I replied to her comment with a question about coffee regions. She answered. I asked another question. She answered that too. And somehow, over the next three weeks, we slid from public comments into DMs into texting into video calls that lasted for hours.

She was in California. I was in Boston. Three thousand miles of distance and a connection that felt closer than anyone I'd dated in the same city.

* * *

"You know this is crazy, right?"

We were on our fifth video call, both of us clearly avoiding sleep for the chance to keep talking.

"What's crazy?"

"This. Us. Whatever this is. We've never even met in person and I'm pretty sure I'm falling for you."

My heart stuttered. "You are?"

"Don't act surprised. You feel it too. I can tell by the way you look at me through this tiny phone screen."

"I feel it. I've been trying to be sensible about it."

"How's that working out?"

"Terribly."

She laughed, and even through crappy phone speakers, it was the best sound I'd ever heard.

"My conference is in Boston next month. Three days. I could e

xtend my trip."

"You could stay with me."

"Isla. We've never met in person."

"I know. But I have a spare room. No pressure. Just... the option to see where this goes."

She was quiet for a moment. Then: "Okay. Yes. Let's do this."

* * *

One Month Later

I recognized her the moment she walked through arrivals. She was taller than I expected, her phone screen hadn't done justice to how she carried herself, confident and graceful. She was wearing a yellow sundress that made her skin glow, and when she spotted me, her face split into that smile I'd been dreaming about.

She walked straight up to me and pulled me into a hug.

"You're even more beautiful in person."

"I was going to say the same thing."