He had, of course, gone back to New York City. Never for a long period of time, and only when he felt lilke he truly needed to, for an overnighter business meeting, or to catch up with a friend that he hadn't seen in a while. There, he would have expected it. He might have not been surprised if he saw Amelia sitting in a little restaurant, would have taken it in stride. But here, in town, his town, it all… seemed too surreal. And the urge to blurt, 'what are you doing here' was strong, at the tip of his tongue. "Something like that," he half murmured, clearing his throat softly and gesturing towards the table that she was sitting at, as though encouraging her to sit back down, "don't let me ruin your meal." He wanted to think that after all of the time had passed, he wouldn't be capable of doing so, but… well, time had a funny way of going by in the blink of an eye, and crawling so slowly that you couldn't stand it, sometimes. "What, uhm," he wet his lips, fiddling with the edge of his napkin, and lifted his gaze from the napkin in front of him to the patio, to the street, to the town just beyond where they were sitting. The place that he had escaped to when he had wanted to move on, wanted to forget what had happened between them. Because of him. he took in a small breath, and tried again, "what brings you here to Merrock?"