she turns to me and looks into my eyes. i notice her face has aged. she's still as beautiful as i had always found her but now the years were showing. she smiles at me and replies,
"not bad. it's been a long time."
"what are you doing here?"
"i stopped in with some friends just to have a drink"
"small world"
"it is. it is." she says looking down.
the two of us sit and catch up until the barman decides it's time for us to leave. we head out into the dark night. it turns out she's single again after a few failed relationship. she'd even been married though she'd never had kids. i too have lived my life. half a dozen or so relationships ending in heartbreak. we walk on through the night discussing one thing or another until she paused and in mournful tone,
"the trouble is i've never trusted anyone as much as i trust you",
i looked at her ad saw a tear welling in her eye as she continued,
"remember how we met? in the alley behind the Lamb?"
"how could i ever forget?"
that's when it hit me. a realisation hit me that for the last ten years every woman i'd been with i had compared to her. I looked at her closely. aged as she was she still had a certain spark of fire in her eye. her stick thin figure of ten years passed had filled out but not so much to call her fat. the hair i used to sit a play with that was once bright blonde had now dulled into a darker more grown up colour. she saw me looking,
"what are you looking at?"
i blushed and a feeling like a young boy embarrassed before a woman washed over me,
"nothing" i stuttered,
she smiled and pushed her hair behind her ear. as we walked on toward nowhere we exchanged numbers and promised to meet the following night for our first date of this our second chance. I don't know what's going to happen the second time round but i'm grateful for the cahnce. this woman was once so perfect for me and no amount of age can break the beauty i see inside of her. so the moral of this story, if there is one, is to take a hold of any chance at love that you may get. no matter from what situation that chance is bourne.