In the months he'd been living in Monument Alley, Greg had been gradually building a routine. He worked regular hours, he played Gobstones on Monday nights and he had places he liked to go to eat and drink. It hadn't been as comfortable as living at home, but it had just been starting to feel unremarkable. And then Christmas had happened. Not only had Greg had to readjust to his family home and living with his mother for the holiday, but no one else was where they were suppose to be either and some of his favoured businesses were closed.
So it was that Wednesday lunchtime found him standing outside Sweet Nothings and scowling at the 'reopening in February' sign. He'd read the sign last week, too, and the week before, and the week before that - but he couldn't seem to retain the information. Wednesdays he took his lunch early and he bought a cake or pastry from Sweet Nothings... The break in his routine reminded him that all of this was still new and that he didn't really know what he was supposed to be doing anymore. Hadn't since school.
Knowing he'd didn't have to get back to work for a few hours, Greg wandered down Monument Alley. He could have gone into Finnigan's but while they did okay food, they didn't do much in the way of sweets. He could have visited Florean Fortescue's but it was too cold for ice cream. Above all, neither of those were things he did on Wednesdays! He came to a stop in the park, not knowing where to go. It took him a few minutes to realise the comment had been addressed to him - and even when he realised, he didn't move immediately. "What?"