He walked into the coffee shop, brushing the snow off his overcoat as he took his place in line. While he was waiting, he turned to see if she was there. There she was, sitting at her usual table in the corner, towards the back. Her long, curly brown hair nearly obscuring her face as she read. He smiled as he observed the scene. It seems she was never with out a book. Never since he had first met her. That had been almost 20 years ago when his daughter was best friends with her younger sister. She had been 18 and a senior in high school then. He would usually see her when she was picking up or dropping off one of the younger girls. They would speak only briefly, but even then, he sensed she possessed the gift. She was shy, looking down at the floor or over his shoulder when he talked to her. That is, unless he made it impossible to look anywhere but directly at him. It was then that he could see the need in her. He could feel her need for him to like her. He did, he liked her very much. In fact, he thought she was beautiful. She didn't seem to realize it, but that wasn't surprising. He expected she had been told repeatedly that she wasn't. Well, if he ever had his chance, she would find out just how beautiful she was.
However, he never got that chance. About half way through her senior year, he was transferred and they lost touch. He hadn't seen or heard about her until just a couple months ago when he was transferred back after accepting an executive position with his company. He was heading to work one morning when he saw her. Even bundled up in heavy parka with an orange vest and holding a large stop sign, he could never forget that face. She didn't see him however, as her face was busy studying traffic waiting for it to be safe so she could lead her small charges safely across the street. The rest of that day and for many more days to come, he had a hard time concentrating on work. For about the first month, their contact was limited to his looking for her on the corner in the morning. Until he saw her, he didn't feel as if his day had truly started.
One morning, about a month after he first saw her, he was heading into work a little later than usual and decided to stop at the coffee shop on the corner. As he pulled into the parking lot, he noticed the old blue pick-up that he knew was hers and his spirits picked up after the difficult morning. He opened the door and there she was standing in line. He took his place at the end of the line and watched her as she placed her order for a large mocha. She took the cup and turned to go find a table. That's when she saw him. Her eyes lit up as she stopped beside him. They greeted each other happily and hugged. He got his order, followed her over to her table, and sat down. She made no objections. He knew she wouldn't. They spent the next half hour being reacquainted until he had to head off to work. As she watched him climb into his car, she started to feel that old familiar ache she always felt when she was younger. Mentally, she gave herself a good kick. After all, she was a 36-year-old woman now. Not an 18-year-old schoolgirl. He was married and besides, even if he wasn't. What makes her think he would be interested in her?
Anyway, after that first meeting they sort of developed a routine. Once or maybe twice a week, he would head into work later than usual and stop off at the coffee shop to see if she was there. If she were, he would ask if he could share her table. She never refused and they would talk about all kinds of things, from books to politics to movies. They even talked about his work. He was pleased to find that she was even more intelligent than he had previously thought. It was looking increasingly like she was the one.
The subject of sex didn't come up until much later. Even then, it wasn't directly approached but sort of came up in a round about way. They had been talking about the old days when she shyly confessed to him that she had had a crush on him ever since the time at the annual holiday open house he and his wife gave when he told her that she looked very pretty.
"Up until that time, no one had told me I was pretty before. No one really has since then either." She said as she stirred the whipped cream into her mocha.
"I find that impossible to believe." He replied as he took a sip from his mug. "I've always thought you were incredibly beautiful."
