It was love at first sight… love ‘across a crowded room’. She was a newcomer to the organisation. When I first saw her she was speaking on the phone. Unexpectedly she turned slightly and caught me, staring. Instead of ignoring me, she threw me a smile that almost obliterated me. I think my heart stopped. In the warmth of that smile I saw a promise of things to come. I wasn’t just one of a number in the room that early afternoon one summer – her smile singled me out. Suddenly I was ten feet tall!
Her figure was so elegant, her movements graceful as a swan’s. Each time she turned her head, the sunlight streaming through the window highlighted the beauty of the nutbrown hair framing her sweet face. Even the sun seemed besotted. Her name was Heather…. such a pretty name.
I decided to court her, gently. I saw her almost daily, noting that she’d bring a sandwich to lunch, sit by herself and read, so by a strange ‘coincidence’ I was there too and of course in time we began to converse, talking about all sorts of things. One day as she stood to return to her office, I, greatly daring, slipped my hand into hers. I half-expected her to withdraw hers. She didn’t – in fact she gave my hand a little squeeze! We walked hand in hand back to her office where regretfully I released her.