tamm0449

Joe’s Café

Sitting alone in the cozy café, staring at my coffee I slowly stirred it with the little plastic straw that the waitress with the short brown hair placed before me. Absently I was waiting, waiting for whom I did not know. I only knew that the terror of lonesomeness was killing me just as if I had twisted a knife in my heart.
These feeling were real, although very infrequent. I stared at the coffee, willing someone to come sit with me. I wondered why they would, when I looked like a drowned rat after standing in the rain before deciding to enter Joe's Coffee House.
I watched indiscriminately as a few couples walked in laughing and enjoying a joke between themselves. The loneliness was there, aching like a pain in your heart that you cannot get rid of.
Jealousy is my name today, how I longed to be one of them in their crowd. Wiping tears from my cheeks and sitting there after three coffee's, I saw him enter. He seemed uncertain as if he wanted to be here alone also. I prayed to God that he would send him my way.
I thought there is a man that could pique my interest, an ordinary man, indescribable yet attractive to me. Our eyes met and I lowered my head ruining the moment. I cursed myself for not smiling. Nevertheless, he meandered over to my table and asked if I were waiting for someone. I assured him that I was, but that he was welcome to sit down for a
while. I didn't want him to know that I was alone and desperate, he shrugged with half a smile as he sat down and apologized for intruding.
Looking into his eyes as quickly as I could, I saw an interest for me and my thoughts. He asked what I was doing sitting here by myself. I hoped that this was a sincere caring question from a man that I had not a clue about. Still, I hoped that his interest in me was genuine.
I answered slowly that I was looking for companionship and a friend that I could pour my
heart out too. He said that his heart was aching for a friend and perhaps we could fulfill each others needs as we shared our pain and life situation.
He slipped his hand over mine and I felt a chill as if I were sitting in the morning snow. He smiled slowly at me as I dared to look him in the eye and smile back. The ice was breaking between us and I felt that we were beginning a friendship that would last as long as any one else's, and perhaps forever if we could open up to one another.
He said that he was a writer and never seemed to find the time to go out. He had made himself go to Joe's tonight. He needed to relax where he could meet other people and find himself a new horizon to set his sights on. Thoughts of new subjects for a new book was coming rather slow these days and he was a little depressed for that reason.
I almost laughed if that was his only trouble in this world. I needed a friend that needed me; and I knew that I could fit his expectations. After all, I was attractive when I smiled and wanted to be interesting to just the right man. There were many things that I had done, and many places that I had traveled to, so I knew that he would find me intriguing if he gave me half a chance.
I glanced up at the dark night sky while we were sitting on Joe's night terrace and, I thanked God for my fortune and my lucky stars. Perhaps this was my knight in Shining Armour? Perhaps, but he needed a little oil and polish to satisfy me. Still, there was something about this man that drew me in.
I was so thankful that God had answered my wish. Unknowingly, I had pulled him to me that night with a will that I had never experienced before. My thoughts and beliefs in me had brought him to me through my faith in God and my Angels.
Sitting there the silence between the two of us seemed like a million golden moments. I relished them and I am sure that he did likewise. It seemed as if we were reading each others resume’ and the answers were complimentary to what we needed. Glancing up nervously, I looked into his eyes seeing an inquiry as to what I was feeling. I could feel his hand tremble as he caressed mine.
Our touching silence was beckoning us to leave to get to know one another more
intimately. He suggested that we go back to his place, if I was comfortable enough to
get to know him and felt that I could trust him. He promised that we would only talk and take it slow as we got to know one another.
He said that his apartment was right around the corner. Nervously, I agreed to go with him. For some reason I was not afraid of him, and knew that this was the man of my dreams if only I would let him into my heart. He had a charm and gentle manner that I felt as if we had known one another forever.
Leaving with a stranger without a name was not my style, however; I felt safe in his arms as he lovingly caressed my hair staring into my eyes that had lost their fear. We walked to his place around the corner, whispering quick questions wondering if we were sure what we were doing and making sure that we were not acting too quickly getting to know one another.
The little brownstone was small and unobtrusive but it was his style. There was a gentle elegance about it that I new that I could fit into if we became more than friends. I admired that he grew ivy on the brownstone and had roses of pink twisting and winding up the wall. He smiled and unlocked the door waiting for me to enter. I entered and was mesmerized by the beauty and serenity that I felt. Our fate was sealed, and we were content to have found our true love from just a prayer and a thought of better things to come.
Cautiously I allowed him to remove my coat as I took in the view of his home quickly. His computer still on, had a screen of fish swimming lazily by. I sat down, sinking into the softness of his sofa allowing my head to lie back on the arm of the sofa. The sofa consumed my tired body as he made me hot Green tea. I felt like the fish, lazy and comfy.
I felt like I was finally home. His feelings and actions showed me that he felt the same as I.
Now, was the time to get to know one another. He whispered something in my ear, which I did not hear, but it didn't matter. What is time but a flurry of many words,
mixed with enough emotions to pass between two people looking for solace and companionship? We exchanged some of our life’s history and decided that some of it could wait. There was an urgency of holding one another between us that we could not deny.
Hanging up his coat and closing the door, he sat beside me and handed me a hot cup of tea. What a touching gesture I thought, thinking that this was like the old black and white movies. I knew then as his hand touched mine that he had given me his heart as I had given mine to this total stranger from Joe's Café. The question fleetingly drifted through my mind where I would be, were it not for Joe's Café for I had been at the end of my rope with sadness and feeling so alone. Thankfully I had found solace in a man that would hold me dear to him and not push me away, nor ignore my thoughts.
We, together as a couple were going to work on a story line about our wonderful meeting in a little nighttime Café. Sitting closely, wrapped in his arms we gave our names to one another as if giving the gift of life. We kissed and knew deep in our hearts that love at first sight had struck us like lightening.
We exchanged many words of our past and many questions of what we wanted in the future. Somehow we knew that we were right for one another. We fit together as closely as pieces of a puzzle making a picture.
Cuddling on the couch we made plans to move my clothing and the few items that I owned over tomorrow to begin a life of love, friendship and romance. Silently we held onto one another intimately, knowing that the stars had guided him to Joe’s Café for a new beginning in both of our empty lives of loneliness and insecurity.
Smiling into the depths of my heart, he picked me up and gallantly carried me into his room of romance and peaceful sleep to dream of our future and the story that one day we would tell our friends and children. We both knew that the end of this story would end many years from now and that we had found our Soul mate through being in the right time, at the right place. Love was in the air and we knew that we were meant to be together without feeling ashamed of finding love at first sight.

Written by: Tamara L. Lesley 7/23/02