Second Encounter Pt 2

Malachi

I park my car in the parking lot a block away from the bookstore then walk over. Old man Johnson immediately comes out the back to greet me. We talk for a while and he tells me to pass along his congratulations to Selina on her defending her title as the Greatest Chef for the third year running on the seasonal cooking show 'Great Chef's Kitchen'.

I let him know I will as he heads to the back to grab my order. While he is back there, I browse the store and find all kinds of finds that I add to my growing stack by the register. Soon he is back with my two ordered books and just chuckles at the 8 additional books I found while he was gone. After checking me out and telling me I could go bring my car around to the front so I didn't have to try to navigate getting to my car with so many books in my hands since he doesn't carry bags and I didn't think to bring any with me.

I decline his advice and figure I should be fine. I get all the books in to my arms then head for the door yelling goodbye over my shoulder. Next thing I know I'm knocking into a person who had been walking by and we, my books and their shopping bags are all over the pathway. Luckily other than us there is no one else around so we are not blocking the pathway for anybody at the moment.

"Oh shit are you okay? I couldn't see over the books. I'm so sorry. Old man Johnson said I could come back for some of them. He promised to put them to the side for me but my sister is so unpredictable. I didn't want to take the chance that she would suddenly change our plans then I would get distracted and forget to come back for the books. I've been waiting a long time for these particular ones. They are part of a collection I'm . . . you don't care about all that. Are you okay?"

I'm nervous that I've possibly injured this person so I end up rambling until I realized I'm sharing way too much information so I check back in with the person who has started laughing loudly.

I realized I've knocked over a woman and I now feel even worse about not listening to Old Man Johnson. I look over at her to make sure she is physically okay. When my gaze finds her I fall into a daze. She is beautiful. She is saying something but I couldn't tell you what she is saying. I noticed she has stood up and is holding her shopping bags plus a few of my books. I know I should get up and pick up my books too but I appear frozen in this moment.

She must have picked up on my silence because suddenly I have biscotti colored eyes looking down at me.

"They sure do grow sexy men very well here in this town. Is there something in the water?"

I hear her mutter such words so clearly that I couldn't help my grin and ask,"You think I'm sexy do you? Who else have you seen to think there might be a trend ?"

I stand up and take note that she is tall but I'm still a bit taller. She has a hourglass figure that makes me want to discreetly check if I'm drooling. I turn away quickly and pick up my remaining books before facing her again. We stand there for a good minute or so looking each other over as if trying to find the answer to a mystery. I know for me I want to know everything about her. I also want to know why I feel this connection to her. 

'She feels like a missing piece to a puzzle I didn't even know I needed. Could this be a love at first sight phenomenon?'

I decide to try asking her if we know each other since as a hardware design engineer I enjoy solving puzzles I come across and I'm already liking the looks of this one.

"So you didn't answer my questions and this isn't meant to be a pick up line but do I know you from somewhere?"

I try to keep my expression from being pleased when I notice she shivered at the sound of my voice. 

"You know what you look like so I'm not responding to that question since I don't want to inflate your ego any more than I already have and this may be a response to your not pick up line. I don't know if we have met before. Maybe in a past life? I've been finding I'm experiencing a trend of meeting people or going places I may have in a past life these past few days so who knows. Maybe fate brought us together."

She tries to play off her attraction by deflecting my minor flirting but I do find myself considering her statement that maybe fate brought us together. 

I nod my head in thought and start walking towards my car in absentmindedness , wanting to write down everything so I could see this puzzle more clearly. By the time I come back from my introspection we have arrived at the parking lot. 

Not wanting her to think this is a set up I jokingly tell her "Well I would like us to part on positive terms so I will take back my books and hope fate will cross our paths again so we may discuss books and siblings at length next time. I don't want you to think this was a crazy kidnapping set up or anything."

I laugh as I take the books from her but I quickly stop laughing when I see she flinched and is looking strained now as she plays with her fingers.

'Her doing that nervous tick reminds me of someone else doing and looking the same way but who was it?' I ask myself but I put that train of thought aside and check in with her.

"Hey I didn't mean to. . ." 

"It's okay. Thank you for a being a gentleman and making sure I felt safe. See you around." She cuts me off by quickly speaking before running away. 

I watch her go around the corner wishing I could follow but my arms are full of books again and it's getting late. 

'I hope she is really okay. I don't know what I said that triggered her but I think she isn't upset with me since she thanked me before she ran.'

I head over to my car then place the books in the backseat. I get into the car and start driving home since it's now 2 pm. I should get back so I can be briefed on this afternoon's schedule as well as tonight's itinerary. 

'I hope our paths will cross again, Sundara. I would love to get to know you and see if my brothers would feel the same way I do about you. I guess I will leave it up to fate for now.' I send my wish out into the ether praying it will be granted.