So here he was, staring up at the stars with snowflakes tumbling down around him. It was eerily quiet- but he liked that. This white noise was something he had become accustomed to over the past few years. It made it easy for him to think about the things that had changed in his life. Especially today; because today was his wedding day… or at least it was supposed to be. Things had obviously gone differently, seeing as he was ring-less with no fiancée. This is where fate had brought him: a New York City skating rink; so late that he was the only one left, just like he'd been his whole life; alone.
As he lay there, he thought about the choices he made recently, and why he made them. Then he thought about Sara; sweet Sara. Any completely sane person would think that this Sara character was the fiancée he was a few hours ago supposed to marry…but no. He knew the truth; this Sara that he had only known for a few hours time, was someone he would never forget to remember. Even after seven years, after all the time and distance that had come between them, he knew that somewhere down the line in his life, they were sure to meet again. He had complete faith in that.
He could remember everything about Sara and the night they met. It was in a department store the weekend before Christmas and there where lights everywhere. He could see it like it was yesterday…
"Wooh! Sorry."
"I'm sorry"
Sara looked up at him and chuckled. Jonathon took that moment to study the woman he had just met. She had long brown hair, and he could tell from her accent she was English. She wore a red scarf with a dark jacket that buttoned half-way. Peeking at her face, he noticed she had a cute, perky nose, slightly pouting lips making him think that she would bite them in concentration on occasion and her eyes were large and mesmerizing. From his first glance, his impression of her was innocence. She looked innocent.
"Do you want these?" asked Jonathon, finally saying something.
"No, please," she replied politely.
"You go ahead. It's the last one." said Jonathon.
As he stood there with a woman who he had never seen before, he thought of a way to make them both happy. Then he saw a cashier who worked there and caught her attention.
"Uh, miss, do you have another pair of these black cashmere gloves?"
Ignoring him in the Christmas rush she replied, "Whatever's out is what we have."
Trying again he asked, "You don't have a stockroom?"
"No. No. We don't have an attic either" She replied dismissively.
"Or a basement?" Jonathon said jokingly and getting an angered look from the girl.
He turned his attention back to the women standing in front of him and told her, "Listen, you take them. I don't need them."
Obviously trying to be as kind as she could, she responded, "No, no, no. You saw them first. I-"
"Please, I insist." He said. As they both tried to be respectful to each other, they almost failed to notice another pair of hands snatching away the gloves. Seeing the man and the gloves, Jonathon got his attention. "Excuse me, sir. These are ours."
Turning around the man replied, "Yeah?" He was obviously not convinced. "Oh. Your gloves? How come? They're just sort of hanging there, sleeping with their little price tag on."
Thinking of something, Jonathon responded, "We were just discussing them, all right?"
Clearly not having time to argue, the man answered, "Well, I have news for you. You can go on discussing them long after I've paid for them."
Jonathon, trying to keep peace, told the man to calm down.
The man with the gloves replied to Sara, "Calm down? Its five days before Christmas, I'm in the middle of a department store and he's asking me to calm down?"
Coming to the rescue, Sara defended Jonathon. "Well, these were meant to be a very special gift for someone."
Seeing an excuse, Jonathon followed her lead. "Yeah, we put quite a lot of thought into those."
Again, clearly not taking the bait the man asked, "Well, who are they for?"
"My boyfriend" said Sara.
"My girlfriend" said Jonathon.
Seeing they contradicted their stories they tried to redeem themselves.
"Her boyfriend" said Jonathon.
"His girlfriend" said Sara.
Completely confused, the man asked, "One pair of gloves for two people?"
"This is hard to explain," said Jonathon.
"Try," replied the man.
"All right," said Jonathon. He looked over at the woman beside him and nodded. "Go ahead."
Caught off guard, she tried to think of anything that might sound legitimate, "Oh. Uh, well, he is at the present time my boyfriend. But in months-"
Helping her out Jonathon went along, "After the operation-"
"He will be-" said Sara.
"She will be-my girlfriend. Do you understand? " said Jonathon to the man.
Seeing clearly the man was not convinced at all, Jonathon said, "That didn't really work out."
The man, being nicer than expected, replied, "No, but Merry Christmas anyway."
"Thank you very much" said Jonathon.
As the man left, the two strangers where now standing there with the gloves alone.
Jonathon turned to the woman. "Well, you earned these" he said, handing over the gloves. "That was quick on your feet."
She smiled, "Thanks. It was a team effort."
"Yeah, it was, it was" he replied.
"I don't know how to thank you," she said.
Thinking it over, Jonathon replied, "Well…"
Jonathon laughed as the snow continued to fall. It had been seven years since he had last seen Sara. It was a night he would never forget, meeting a complete stranger, falling in love, and then saying goodbye. Good-bye because of destiny. At least that's what she had told him. He remembered her being so sure that if they were destined to be together then fate would bring them together when the time was right. If you asked him, he was tired of waiting for fate, he wanted destiny, now.
He smiled as he remembered how believing she was of fate, destiny and signs. She was like nobody he had ever met. Whenever he closed his eyes he could see her, and sometimes when he was doing the most random thing, he would get this scent that reminded him of her; a sacred fragrance that belonged to only Sara.
The single thing he had to physically remind him of that night was one of the black gloves and the receipt that went along with it. Holding the glove in his hands now made everything that had happened so real. Thinking back to earlier that day, he remembered how he gave up on his soon to be bride all because of what transpired when he met Sara. It was all because of the feeling inside him that he couldn't shake. Maybe it wasn't all because of Sara though…maybe somewhere deep inside him he knew it was never right with his fiancé and he was using Sara as his excuse. All he knew was that he had no regret of his earlier actions. What was done was done, and he accepted his choice.
For the hundredth time that night he looked into the sky and took a deep breath. He watched the snowflakes come down in silence. He was interrupted as he felt a light weight of something fall onto his chest. Startled, he lifted his head to look at his chest and quickly grabbed the glove that was lying there.
Inspecting it, he turned the glove over, still captivated. He looked towards both his sides, but no one was on the rink. He glanced down to his side and noticed his glove he had brought with him. Grabbing it, he sat up and held not one, but two black cashmere gloves. They were both the mate to the other. This was impossible, unless…
He looked up and the pieces fell together: she was behind him. He knew it with every fiber in his body. He could feel her eyes staring into his back, so he slowly turned around and looked towards the entrance of the rink; and there she was. She was just standing there, looking innocent. She had tears in her eyes, but he knew they were from happiness, because she was smiling. She lifted her hand to wave at him, as if to simply say hi.
Shocked, he dropped the gloves and stood up slowly, facing her completely. As soon as he stood, she slowly started making her way towards him to bring close their distance. He met her near the middle of the rink with snow falling around them. It was completely silent and not at all awkward.
He lifted his hand and without hesitation so did she; he was holding her hand and touching her for the first time in seven years.
"I'm Jon" he stated unnecessarily.
"I'm Sara" she told him.
He stood there staring at her after all these years. She had changed, but in some ways still looked the same. He noticed her hair was shorter and she had a maturity about her, but other than that, she was still his sweet, sweet Sara. As he gradually made his way down towards her; she smiled, understanding his intension; so she met him halfway. He kissed her for the first time in his life and continued to kiss her, for a lifetime of kissing her would never be enough.