The Day We Met.

She sat in the crowded café, her back to the wall, a book in her hand. She flipped the pages without really seeing them. In stead her eyes flicked from page to room every few minutes, checking, waiting. He was not late, no, she was early; a precaution. When her eye looked to the door again, they caught.
The dark hair, the face; it was the man she had seen in the picture. His eyes found hers over the heads of noisy customers. When he came close, the greeting was awkward, but she broke the tension by suggesting a move. They escaped into the rows of books and a semi quiet atmosphere. The large reading chairs provided for lingering customers were scarce but there, before them sat two conveniently unoccupied. They settled into the cushions, and even after a bumpy introduction, their talking came easily. She liked to think of herself as friendly and open, but he was as she had so deemed him, “relentlessly inquisitive.”
Hours passed unnoticed, but thoroughly enjoyed. Before long the intercom sounded to announce their approach to closing time. They took their time, still locked in conversation, to make their way to the door. Then they were out among the chilly February air. When she reached her car, she did not leave. They stood bearing the wind and late hour to dig deeper into each other, enraptured. But as the time wore on, the chill crept into the deeper layers of their clothing and they were forced to part.
It was then, as they talked of the chill and their goodbyes were closing in, that he took a risk. She, so intrigued with him, could not turn him down. She told this man from the Internet a simple yes of some kind, trying to play off her eagerness. They set a date and said goodnight.

There is much to tell after this night. Beautiful stories and tales of misunderstandings, but we must jump forward. Half a year from their first date she stands in her kitchen trying to express to him the joy of having him in her life.

As on that first day she remains intrigued and excited about the days to come. Only there is something she has now that she didn’t have then. A place only for him in her heart.