Amanda hastened through the crowd on the pavement, keeping an eye on the dark clouds threatening to burst. The designated coffee café was just around the corner, she could still make it.

She stumbled into the café just as the heavens opened the gates and released a thunderous downpour. It's been exactly two months and a day since her unforgettable encounter with her nameless stranger. Two months and a day she has ached to be held by him again. To feel his arms around her, his mouth on her skin.

She had found the little note he had left her exactly a month after that night. It had been stacked against the pile of laundry and must have dropped to the floor, sliding in underneath the kitchen counter. If she had not dropped her name pin and inadvertently kicked it to the exact spot of the note, she might still have never found it.

She had memorized it word for word.

Meet me at Mary's Coffee Café on Monday after work.
If you come, I will tell you, my name.
If not, you will never see me again.

After ordering a coffee, she sat down at the corner table she had occupied daily since she had found the note. After a few weeks, her hope had dwindled that she would ever see him again, but still she came.

Day after day.

The coffee café's door opened again, ringing the little bell, and Amanda turned her head. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the man, weaving a hand through his wet dark hair. The once clean-shaven jawline had a few days' growth, and the grim expression and lines around his eyes told the tale of many sleepless nights.

He was also dressed differently and did not wear the same work clothes.

The man walked further into the café without acknowledging her, stopping at the counter to study the overhead menu. Amanda instinctively bowed her head, making her hair fall forward to cover her face. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest.

She had never thought what she would do if she met him again.

Would he even remember her?

The lady behind the counter called her name and the man visibly stiffened. He turned to see Amanda approaching him, her demeanor nervous as she walked closer. A smile curled hesitantly on the corners of her mouth.

"Amanda?" He all but whispered, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her.
"Have we met before?" He asked as she stopped at the counter beside him, clearly not knowing who she was.

Amanda's smile disappeared, and her shoulders sagged. Her shaking hand took the coffee she had ordered from the counter.

Poor, forgettable, plain, and dull Amanda Walker. Had she truly believed he would recognize her, and scoop her into his arms?

"N-no, I-I don't think so," she could barely audibly respond. She turned and as quickly as she could she left the café.

Whether she had met him that Monday or any other day, his reaction would be the same. She would never be the woman he had made love to that night. She was but a figment of his imagination.

The rain roared in her ears as she stood motionless outside getting drenched.

Dumb, sad Amanda.

She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out the note he had written. The rain tore into the piece of paper shredding the words to a non-decipherable mess.

"I waited for a month, but you never came."

Amanda spun around to find her stranger directly behind her.

"I waited and hoped, but then I stopped. I have stood outside your apartment so many times desperately wanting to go in. There hasn't been a day, Amanda, that I haven't thought of you. Remembered you."

Amanda frowned, shaking her head in disbelief.
"But inside-you-you- "

"It took me a moment, I admit. That night was like a dream. You were," he inhaled, "different."

"I- "

"Amanda," he stepped forward and she instinctively stepped back. He stopped.

"Please, it's okay. That-that night will always be unforgettable, at least for-for me. I know-I-I am not the kind of wo-woman you would usually- "

"You are the only woman I want. That night and every night."

Amanda's eyes widened as he cupped her face.

"Sweet, Amanda," he breathed and then kissed her. The wet paper fell from her hand, crumbling into pieces. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and she stood on her toes to respond to his kiss.

"My name is Derek. Derek Hall," he smiled into her mouth. "Want to get out of this ridiculous downpour?"

The End.