It was her first day at the bookstore. She moved books here and there and waited in customers. The day was going pretty good. She found it a joy to recommend her favourites to the customers. They were also nice enough to listen to her opinion.
"Excuse me. Do you've a book for a broken-hearted person?"
Alex turned around wondering what this customer was asking for. To her annoyance it was Noah.
"I don't know."
"Oh. That's sad. I thought you could help me out."
"I don't have time for this Noah."
"Really? I'm the only customer here right now."
"Well I've other work to do."
"Okay then. I'll complain to Ms.Warner about her ill mannered staff."
"Wait. Hmm. What do you want?"
"A book for the broken-hearted."
"You could read poetry. Let me see. Oh this one's good. It's all about love, life and grief."
"Alex. Please talk to me. You know I didn't do anything wrong."
"I never said you did anything wrong."
"Then what is this? Why are you behaving like this?"
"I cannot explain."
"Explain."
"Can we do this on my break?"
"Okay. I'll wait."
A few hours later Alex went out to a food truck to get some burritos. She got one for Noah too.
"Well. What is it?"
"Uh. Look Noah. Don't you think we should move on? It's been a long time."
"Move on from what?"
"I don't know. This is not right."
"What's not?"
After taking a bite into her lunch she said,
"There's something you should know."
She wasn't really sure she should tell him about the little date she had with. But she couldn't lie to him either. He hadn't done anything wrong.
"I... uh... kind of went on a date."
"With who?"
"Jacob. He's just a co-worker. It was nothing. I stopped before it became anything serious. I told him about us."
Noah was very quiet. They kept eating. After they finished their lunch they walked back to the bookstore. At the door they stopped.
"Well I'll be going then. Have a nice day."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen."
"That's alright. We can move on."
"But..."
"What?"
"I thought we had something really special."
Noah left before she could say anything else.
Days. Weeks. Months went by, four to be precise. They hadn't talked to each other. One or two other times they met at the supermarket. But that was it. Everything had changed. Alex got a job at a leading magazine company. She quit her job at the bookstore. Her life seemed to be coming together.
But was she really happy? Would she ever meet the one?