It wasn’t that he was the most handsome man she’d ever met nor even the most quick-witted. But he was kind. She’d witnessed it whenever she saw him with other people or animals or birds. And there was something in his eyes that indicated he was thinking beyond what was heard or spoken. She couldn’t say what it was that kept her thinking of him even when he was out of sight, why she thought of him as she left the office each day and when she got home, nor the reason she saw him in her dreams.

The problem, of course, was that he had no idea she existed. None! She sat at the same spot every day, reading while she ate her favorite lunch – apple slices dipped in caramel, a favorite because when she was a little girl, her grandfather had made it their very own treat, and memories of love and home rushed in whenever she ate them.

And the man passed the very spot every day, chatting with a friend or looking at his phone or simply whistling. Today was no different. He’d passed without noticing. Enough! She gathered her things and slid them into her bag. She wasn’t someone who approached attractive strangers nor any stranger, for that matter. It just wasn’t in her. Maybe one day she’d find someone like him; someone kind who had more within him than he let anyone know. Today would be the last day, she decided. No more pining. No more wishing. She’d take lunch at her desk and let go of thoughts of which only she was aware.

And she did. And it was boring. Oh, she made mindless conversation with co-workers who took lunch at their desks, too. She read a book, but it felt flat. She distracted herself with Pinterest. But she missed her little spot near the fountain outside her office building.

Depressed. That’s what she felt, though nothing had really been lost other than an intangible hope of something more. She still passed by the fountain after work. At least there was that, but she did not sit. She did not read. And something in her heart broke a little. Until.

Until a week had gone by. And there, as she passed the fountain after work, waiting for her, was the not most handsome man holding something out to her.

Apple slices dipped in caramel.

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