To say I knew Jessica would be a bit of a stretch. We worked on the same floor of the building, so I would encounter her several times a day, and whenever I took an afternoon walk to get away from my work, I'd encounter her as well. Sure I knew who she was, and I could easily pick her out of a crowd. Whenever we saw each other, there'd be some small talk - the typical "Hi" and "How're you?" kind of things - along with an exchange of grins or light smiles, though whether she was just being kind or actually appreciated encountering me I was never entirely sure.
What turned things a little more in the direction of "interesting" and "odd" was an afternoon a few months back. I dropped my car off at a big-name auto mechanic that happened to be across the street from a big box store with a café. As the work on my car would take a couple hours, I decided to lounge in the café with a drink and light snack while reading a book on my tablet.
For me to actually be able to effectively concentrate, though, there cannot be a lot of stuff going on in my peripheral vision. And when the entrance to the big-box store is in your peripheral vision, concentration is a bit difficult. It wouldn't have mattered if I'd turned around either, as there would've been plenty of people crossing my peripheral vision, again making concentration difficult.
And Jessica was one of the ones who walked into the store. I could easily pick her out of the crowd, and as soon as our eyes met, I think as if by reflex, she shot me a grin and I did the same. This was also the first time I'd ever encountered another company employee outside the office, or at least one I could immediately recognize, and aside from that brief glimpse at the store's entrance, I wouldn't see her again.
A couple weeks later, I was back at the café as my car was back in the shop - one of the downsides of having an older vehicle is having a lot of maintenance work that tends to come due around the same time. This time I didn't bother trying to read, choosing instead to bury myself in some research for a DIY project. And again I would find myself periodically momentarily distracted as people filed into the store through the entrance.
But I didn't notice Jessica walking in. I didn't notice her until she chose to sit down across from me at my table. Her skin is mildly tanned. Her hair was bobbed off a little below the chin, being a little darker than her skin color with some sun stripes through it. Though the day fell within May, some recent storms left the temperature a little lower than normal, so she had a denim jacket around her hanging open to show the t-shirt she wore underneath.
It was probably the first time we'd ever had anything that could be called a conversation, but it wasn't much more than mostly small talk. I already knew she was married as I've seen the wedding set on her finger almost every time I've encountered her. And my wedding band was also almost always plain as day on my finger - white gold tends to stand out regardless of your skin color. And we filled each other in on what brought us both back to the same store and the plans for the rest of the day. I mentioned that I was just out and about while my wife slept off her night shift, also mentioning the car in the shop across the street. She said that she was out running errands while her husband took her daughter several cities away for a concert.
She left after the brief conversation to get some shopping done and reappeared about fifteen minutes later.
