Lilac Love

By the time I got to work that Monday, I realized that I was lost. Sounds funny to say I know but really, I was lost. Not that I didn’t know the way to my job. Of course, I knew that. I was lost from meeting, even for the briefest of moments, the new waitress at the diner that I always stop at on the way to work for a quick breakfast. I pretty much wolf my food down and while I was doing that I heard a laugh from behind me. I looked up and saw her smiling and telling me to slow down that I might choke on it. 

She must have just walked in and started her shift because I had never seen her working here before today. She wasn’t my regular waitress but after getting my breakfast placed in front of me my regular one said she had been working since midnight and had to leave now and someone else would help me if I needed anything else, figuring that I wouldn’t because she knew I always gulped and ran.

Looking up I saw her, the new one. She was laughing at me but I could tell it was just good-natured and as she bent down to pour me another cup of coffee I could smell the lilac perfume that she was wearing. I breathed her in a second time and said how great the smell was and she asked if I meant the coffee but I said no that I meant her and she smiled again and thanked me and said she was glad that I thought she smelled better than the coffee. I said she smelled amazing much better than any coffee I had ever smelled. She said Lilac Love and I said yes. She blushed and said that was the name of the perfume and then added that she would be back to check on me and then quickly turned to go back for an order that was just ready now.

I slowed down eating and just sipped my coffee slowly. I was in no hurry now to be anywhere other than here. I watched her go from customer to customer and be friendly with all of them but see her look over at me at times and smile and then look back at the people that she was serving.

I glanced at my watch and realized I was barely going to make it to work on time even if I pretty much ran out of here now so I waved her over and thanked her for the excellent service she had given me. She said she was happy to serve me and I said that I was happy to be served and then we both looked away and then back and laughed. I told her that I had to hurry to work now but planned to come back for dinner here after work and wondered if she would still be working then. She said she would be and said that she hoped I would get back before her shift ended at 6. I told her I’d see her by then and maybe we could talk more and she said she would like that. I looked at her and said Lilac Love. She said yes.

I hurried out of there after leaving a very big tip and now I was at work just barely before my first appointment of the day. It was a big client for the company but my mind was somewhere else and I was really glad that my co-worker knew the presentation as much as I did. He covered for me big time and the client seemed very happy with our proposal and said they would let us know soon but that we should expect a positive response.

As soon as they left my co-worker Bill asked me where my mind was today. I told him that I had just met the most wonderful woman I had ever imagined. He just laughed and said that she must be pretty great because I had a big imagination. Now I grinned and said she was pretty and great and I wasn’t imagining it. Then I got back to work for the rest of the day because I had so much to do with other clients as well.

It was 5:45 when I was wrapping up and I realized that I had to leave immediately if I had any chance of getting to the diner before her shift ended. I rushed out and got to the diner and opened the front door right at 6:00 and looked around for her and didn’t see her. I sank into a booth and was so disappointed and yelled at myself in my head about working so long and getting here late. What kind of an impression would that make if I didn’t show up when I said I would? 

Then I heard a voice behind me say if I was going to be this late then I better just get up and get out of this place. I looked up and saw the smile on her face as she continued and said let’s go somewhere else because she needed a change of scenery. Without a word I put a $20 bill on the table and left with her. She said hey, I didn’t leave that big a tip for her that morning and I smiled and said I would make up for that in the days ahead for sure.

She had changed out of her uniform and now had on a cute little purple dress and purple sneakers. It all went well with her Lilac Love perfume that I breathed in deeply as we walked through the doorway together.

As we walked she told me that her name was Mindy and that she had just moved to town last week and started her job this morning. I told her that I was Gabe and had lived around here all of my life, so far. She laughed and said then I would be the perfect tour guide and I said it would be my pleasure.

I wanted to stop and look her in the eyes and kiss her right then. I wanted to tell her that I would always be her tour guide wherever she wanted to go. So many more thoughts were running through my mind as we walked but I didn’t stop, didn’t kiss her, just took her hand without looking and felt the electricity of touching her and realizing that she let me take her hand. 

She asked where I was taking her and I replied did it matter and she said no she trusted me. After all, I was her tour guide now. She would go anywhere I took her.

I took her to a place I had eaten at a lot of times that had the best tacos in town and she grinned as we went inside and said that she loved tacos and that now she was really hooked on her tour guide. We sat and ate tacos and talked for hours until the place got ready to close and then we went outside and she got in a cab that would take her home. That was her choice. I wanted to go with her but she said no a cab was fine and besides she better get right to bed because she worked early the next morning. I told her I would see her for breakfast and she jumped in the cab and waved as the driver pulled away.

I walked home from there and it was after midnight when I got to my place. I was still wired and didn’t get to sleep for several more hours just thinking of her and smelling her perfume that still lingered on me. Lilac Love. Yes.

I woke up late and knew I didn’t have much time for breakfast before my first appointment of the day at work but I got to the diner and had just a few minutes to eat. I sat in my usual booth and my usual waitress came over and poured me a cup of coffee and asked if I wanted my usual. I told her I did and asked if the new waitress, Mindy, was in yet. She looked at me kind of strangely and said that Mindy was supposed to be in an hour ago but hadn’t shown up. Then about half an hour ago the manager said that Mindy had quit and wouldn’t be in anymore.

She could tell that I was upset and she told me that everybody there had liked Mindy when she worked the day before and were very surprised that she would just up and quit after just one day and without any notice. I said yeah I was surprised too and that I had to leave and get to work for an early appointment. I didn’t have time for my breakfast but I gave her the money for it anyway along with a big tip and told her to give my food to someone who came in next and tell them it was a gift.

She looked at me funny but then smiled and said OK and I ran out the door and to my job, barely getting there before my first appointment. I tried to put Mindy out of my head for now at least because I had to get this appointment right or I would never get a promotion at this place. 

When I got back to my office after my appointment in the meeting room there were some flowers on my desk. They were lilacs. No signature on the card. It just read Lilac Love. I breathed them in deeply and said yes.

I spent the next month trying to find Mindy. I asked the diner for her address and even though they couldn’t give it to me for privacy reasons my regular waitress told me what she knew. I checked the apartment and the manager told me that the tenant had only been there a week, had paid for the month and paid a security deposit, and had just disappeared. The manager said that Mindy had left a note apologizing for leaving without notice but hoped that they would forgive her. She left a check for rent for the next two months and hoped they would be able to rent it out by then and not lose any money because of her leaving so soon.

Nobody else that I found knew much about her or where she had come from or where she might have gone. It seemed like a dead end. I tried to put her out of my mind. After all, I had only known her one day. But that one day was the best day I had ever experienced in my life. Still, I had to keep working hard at my job even while I did all I could think of to find her. Where could she have gone? Why did she leave without any word at all except for sending me the lilacs? I mean, yes, it was a nice touch but I wanted more of an explanation. She didn’t really owe me that after such a short time but I wanted it anyway.

It was about a year later that I was walking through the mall and walked past a little shop that sold cards and perfume. I smelled lilacs and it brought everything back. Lilac Love. 

Then it hit me. Lilac Love. Maybe she was connected somehow with that perfume. So I walked into the shop and asked if they sold a perfume that smelled like lilac. The sales clerk said yes they did. She said that they had one that had just come out in the last few months but it was very popular now already. I asked if I could see it and smell it. She said of course and got it and brought it to me. She opened the bottle and I knew that was it. That was what Mindy had been wearing. I had to have it. As the sales clerk brought the packaging out to wrap it up for me I stopped her. I picked up the packaging and there it was. Lilac Love by Mindy. There was an address on the box and I paid for it all quickly and took it out of the store and was practically running through the mall. I got outside and looked at the address and saw that it was a thousand miles away but I didn’t care. I got in my car and started driving and called my office along the way and said that I had an emergency and that Bill could handle anything for me while I was gone.

I drove and drove not stopping for much at all until I was so tired that I had to pull over in a parking lot and sleep a few hours. Then I started driving again until I finally got to the address. I parked and ran to the door but no one answered. It was closed. I was so dejected and so tired and so hungry so I walked down the street and into a diner where I ordered some coffee and some food.

The waitress brought me my food and as she walked away I started shoveling it in. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was and this tasted good and I ate very fast. Then in a haze, I heard someone behind me telling me to slow down that I might choke on it. I looked up and saw her. It was Mindy in her cute little purple dress and purple sneakers. 

She sat down across from me and reached out and took my hands. I pulled her hands gently to my lips and kissed them. As I did I smelled lilac. You smell great as always I told her. Thanks, she said. I have so much to tell you. I’m hoping you can forgive me. Things happened so fast. Still, I was hoping you would find me. I trusted that you were a good tour guide. My tour guide. That you wouldn’t lose me.

I told her that I was the one who was lost right from the start. That I was lost in her from the moment I saw her and then I was lost when she went away. But now, here I was and here she was. She could tell me her story and I very much wanted to hear it. But what I wanted most was Lilac Love. She smiled and just said yes.