Chapter 2

Years later, at a beautiful wedding, she looked into the eyes of the most exquisite man. He was the man of all her affections. She loved him with all her heart. Tears welled up inside her eyes, and her heart began to tremble. The most gorgeous bride began to walk down the aisle towards the groom. Her love was to wed to her bestest of friends.

"Why did I ever agree to do this?" she pained in her mind. Tears were streaming down her face. No one seemed to notice the anguish and misery in her eyes and face, for tears were a common sight at weddings. "They look so happy. He looks so happy. I could never give him the life he deserves. He loves her, not me. It will always be that way."

"How wonderful it must to be to be loved," she whispered as the lovely couple left the church. She walked to her car in the bridesmaid dress that was given to her by her friend.

"I am supposed to be over this man!" she scolded herself. A sob leapt from her mouth as she entered her car and quickly closed the door. She sat in her car and cried, as she had done so many times before. A rapping came at her window. It was her dearest friend.

"Are you alright? I mean, you left so suddenly, I thought perhaps something was wrong," he babbled almost incoherently.

She opened the door and stepped out to greet him. "Oh," she sniffed, "I'll be fine. Thank you though."

"Would you like to get some coffee or something?"

"Sure, that sounds nice."

With that the two walked down the street chatting all the way to the coffee shop. The two friends had much to talk about. He always made her laugh and he made her forget why she was mad, sad, or upset. He always seemed to bring out the best in her. They were made for each other. Soul mates.

As he left her at her door that night, she felt like she never had around him. He gave her that same feeling all the others did, but so much stronger.

"I know that this can never work. Although he gives me a feeling of comfort and safety, he is not the one," she chided herself.

"You know as well as I do, that he is meant for someone else," the voice whispered. "You know who he is that you love, but why wont you tell him? You know he loves you too. Tell him."

She sat on her front room couch and pondered along in the silence with the occasional chatterings of the other minds there.

"He is but a friend who has been there so many times before. I love him, I know I do. And I know that he loves me,but this love was never meant for marriage for it is a mutual friendship love. But it feels so much stronger. Is this feeling what true love is, or am just blinded by the lusts of the world?"

The next day she called him up and invited him to a premier social event in town. Now she could really test the affections she had. The night arrived almost unwanted for she could already feel the erroneousness of her acts.

As the night drew to a close she took a deep breath and thought to herself, "lets make this a quick and painless as possible." The sentence ran through her head a million times before coming to a conclusive right approach to the subject.

"I think I love you," she driveled with uncertainty.

Stifled at the comment he retorted with a simple yet elegant chortle, "You know that I love you, but this love a brotherly love, a cultured love of friends, nothing more. I know that there will be a man out there who can return to you an undying love that only true soul mates know. Yes I love you too, and wish only the best for you, that is all a brother can offer."

He smiled and walked her home. Nothing else was said that night except a baffled apology.

Confused and lost she stumbled into her room. She lay in her bed dazed and bewildered at the fact that she had just proclaimed her love to her best friend.

"He loves me like a sister, a relative for Heaven's sake! And I sure as hell don't live in Arkansas." She stopped short of completing her sentence when she noticed the message light blinking on her phone. She picked it up and heard a trembling voice on the other end. It was someone she did not know, but he knew her.

The girl who had betrayed her so many times knew him. He knew her. Fear trickled down her spine as she continued to hear the words he stumbled upon. He wanted to meet her.

'How can I be sure of this? It is so unexpected. How can I trust her again? How can I trust anyone again?' These thoughts tugged at her as she put the phone down. Tomorrow she could she trust again.

The morning brought a new found excitement to her veins. She dressed and readied herself for what ever may come. She ventured out side into the sunlight; she never liked the day much. It was a time of pain and abandonment, but not today, for she vowed she could not be hurt again, she would be the one to hurt.

Her raven hair invited the light to play upon it, her smooth skin felt warm in the life giving sun. Her eyes began to sparkle and shimmer again with the light within her. She walked to her car, stopping next to it she sighed relief in to the air and stepped inside.

She began to drive to the diner where she would meet the mystery man. Her excitement and adrenaline fought in her stomach as she came upon the diner. She could not stop; her foot became glued to the gas pedal. Something was telling her to just keep driving and never look back.

"It is just a diner. There will be other people there. What am I so afraid of?" Thoughts raced across her mind until they finally slammed into the wall of the decision she vowed.

She turned her car around and headed back to the diner. She struggled to tame the thought of impending pain into a cage in the back of her mind. She mustered up enough strength to leave the safety of her car and move toward to heavy glass doors. The diner appeared gray and rusted as though it had survived some sort of attack. There were dents in the peeling stucco with layers of paint trying to fill the gaps in the uncovered brick.

She reached the black mat in front of the doors. It once read welcome. She looked upon it and her mind wandered.

"Once my heart was fresh and new, the word welcome invited all to enter. But now after it was trampled by careless feet it is just as tattered as the mat before me."

She lifted her chin and with great precaution shoved one of the glass doors open. With a worried smile she glances around the room for another anxious smile. She caught the eye of a man sitting by a cracked window with a new shade drawn. He smiled and waved to her. Quickly but cautiously, she weaved her way in and out of chairs and people to the stranger. He was handsome. His bright blue eyes light up his square face, roughened from years of sun. His hair was like a fire upon his head, bright red that matched the pepper like freckles sprinkled on his face by the Supreme Creator. Green was color. His tight shirt bulged at his arms and chest. Delicately his calloused hands set his book to the side of the table and he stood to greet her. She stood at the table speechless.

He stood from his seat and his well mannered face gazed intently on her and finally rested on her steel colored eyes. The eternities came and went before either of them broke the silent ice created between them. His mouth formed the words but nothing escaped but air until she reached out and fumbled for the chair.

"Excuse me, are you the one I am to meet?" she asked timidly relying on the chair for support.

"I do believe so." Came the trembling reply form his almost recovered mouth. He walked to her side of the table and lifted out her chair and gently placed it beneath her as she sat at the table.