Lightning shot across the sky and illuminated the darkest shadows on the streets below. The rain beat down, washing away the dirt of the day and perfuming the air with the damp aroma of wet earth. The breeze whipped in through the gauze curtains, blowing the hair back from her face before each strand settled back into place.

It was not a bad face; neither unattractive nor extraordinary. She would not stand out in a crowd but something about the glow of her skin and the luminance of her dark eyes made one take a second look and on those rare occasions when she smiled, you felt her joy and smiled with her.

She sat alone, watching the storm wreak havoc on the travels of the few unfortunate souls caught out in it. Those people scrambled to get under awnings and alcoves to avoid further drenching and the cars passing by did so slowly with windshield wipers working furiously to keep the rain water out of the drivers’ vision.

Her apartment was on the third floor of street front condominium complex in the heart of the city. Her balcony afforded quite a view even if the square footage of her home was less than 950 square feet. The rain was coming down too heavily to sit out on the balcony but she had an easy chair by the French doors leading out onto it and she could see out, over and down into the far side of the street below.

The thunder and lightning had knocked out the electricity and she had lit a few candles to chase away some of the encroaching darkness. She leaned her chin on her shoulder and sighed. Tears pooled in her eyes and fell unchecked down her smooth cheeks and dropped of into her shirt. It was her thirty-fifth birthday and she was home alone.

Normally she wouldn’t be indulging in such a flagrant pity party but today brought some harsh realizations into focus. Today she realized she was quickly approaching 40 and, strangely enough, she had never been on a proper date in her whole life. In fact, she had not really dated at all. She could not recall ever bringing home any special someone to meet her family or introducing a boyfriend to any of her friends. Her circle of friends had been small but at least lined with some truly wonderful people who had called to wish her happy birthday and one had even taken her to lunch the day before, but today, besides the usual calls from her family, she had spent the day alone.

It didn’t seem right even if it did fall into her normal course of life. Not once had she had a special someone around for a birthday, a Christmas or a Valentine’s Day. She dreaded those holidays because they only reminded her of her single status and drove the thought deep into her self conscience that somehow, she was unworthy of love.

She had no idea how this had happened to her; how so much of her life had gone by without even one reciprocal relationship to show for it. She had certainly loved two men in her life but those feelings had not been returned. She had managed a few “encounters” in her years but they always ended in rejection and hurt feelings. Still, she had tried to be optimistic, hanging onto the old adage that there was someone for everyone, but tonight, this stormy, lonely night, she felt her optimism die. It had drowned in her tears and could not be revived. She receded deep inside herself and stared out at nothing, condemning herself for being such an obvious loser and blaming herself for not being beautiful or at the very least, passably pretty. It didn’t seem to matter how nice she was or how smart or even what a good hearted person she proved herself to be. No matter how hard she had tried in the past to project confidence, it always fell away into nothingness at the first sting of rejection. That rejection usually took form in the shape of being labeled “a great friend”.

She had gotten used to men talking to her only because they wanted to meet one of her friends. Those same men became fairly good friends themselves over time and would often ask, rather stupidly out loud, why some guy hadn’t grabbed her up yet because she was just so sweet? She wished time and time again they would look to their own reactions to her to come up with the answer instead of forcing her to confront this heartbreaking subject with a flippant answer that belied her hurt. It seemed obvious to her that the answer was simply that they didn’t find her good enough or attractive enough to consider her beyond a casual friendship.

The thought of living the rest of her life feeling this way brought a crushing weight to her chest and made the tears fall faster. She hoped with all her heart that her life wouldn’t be so very long because to live it alone would be unbearable. She prayed that the next time around, if there was a next time, she might be born beautiful and would meet someone who found her worthy.

No longer caring about getting wet, she got up and stepped out onto the balcony, leaning on the railing and looking down. She sniffled once. Her dark hair absorbed the rain and hung in wet strands past her shoulders. Her skin, white with rosy cheeks and a reddened nose from her sorrow, shone in the moonlight. Not seeing what the world could plainly see at this moment, she presented a wild, untamed and natural beauty to the miserable weather and to one lone man who happened to be enjoying the storm from his own terrace across the street and one floor up from her.

He watched her for a while. Her melancholy reached out to him for it was so very obvious. He had seen her many nights before, sitting out on her balcony and enjoying the view but she had not seemed sad before tonight. Several times, he had passed her on the sidewalk while he jogged and had smiled and said hello. She would barely look up and would toss out a quick smile that disappeared just as quickly before hurrying on her way. He had wondered about her from time to time.

As he watched, lightning lit the sky again and offered just enough light to see behind her into her apartment where two mylar, helium balloons floated back a forth from their anchor on gift bag sitting on her coffee table. The balloons said “Happy Birthday”. Suddenly, he knew the source of her despair. It was her birthday and she was all alone.

His heart ached and his mind balked at the thought that such a lovely woman should be home alone on her birthday. It wasn’t right. He came to a fast conclusion and went back inside. He changed into dry clothes and grabbed his jacket.

She noticed, as she looked down into the street, that a man emerged from the apartments across the street. She had seen this gentleman before in passing. He was nice looking, tall and athletic. On a few occasions, he had said hello to her as he jogged by and she had felt supremely self conscious under his blue-eyed gaze. She wondered where he was going in this weather. Of course, he would have a date. Guys that looked like he did always had a date. She pondered what the woman would look like that he would be meeting up with. She was probably equally athletic, yet graceful. Certainly, she would be beautiful. He jogged down to the corner with his jacket pulled up over his head to an Italian Pizzeria that welcomed hungry and stranded travelers with warm scents and a dry, softly lit parlor. She turned from the scene and walked back inside. There was nothing to do and no where to go. She sat by a candle and opened up her journal and began to write.

Twenty minutes passed with her lost in her thoughts when she was startled out of her reverie by a knock on her door.

Not knowing who would be knocking on her door this night, she peeked through the spy hole and saw only the close up side view of someone’s head. She called out “Who is it?”

“Delivery” came the reply. It was a deep masculine voice and one she didn’t recognize. She looked through the spy hole again and this time, saw the man from across the way. He had backed up from her door and was smiling.

Hesitantly, she opened the door. The man stood on her doorstep with a pizza box and a bottle of wine.

“Can I help you? she said.

“Hi. I was just walking around in the rain looking for a beautiful woman to share a pizza with and maybe a little wine.” This last was said with a cute smile and an endearing look in his incredible blue eyes as he held out the bottle for her inspection.

She looked both skeptical and confused. It was adorable and he found his attention singly focused on her reaction.

“I’m Reece” he said.

She said nothing for a moment then laughed lightly. Her smile lit up her whole face and he felt his chest tighten a little then swell with both relief and elations.

“Kate” she conceded her name.

His grin widened and she felt her pulse jump and her cheeks warm under the magnetism of that engaging smile.

“Would you have dinner with me Kate?”

How could she say no? She opened the door and let him in. She didn’t know what to think of all this. It seemed unreal but she was intrigued all the same.

He came in, sat down and proceeded to open up the pizza box and pop the cork on the wine. She got some plates and glasses from the kitchen and together, they sat on the floor on opposite sides of the coffee table where her gift bag still sat. They ate, drank, and shared good conversation. Her heart lifted. It seemed that the “next time around had arrived”.

The storm blew over and left behind a light rain. The breeze stirred and the aroma of damp earth filtered into the candlelit living room. The breeze swirled, teasing the tendrils of hair on the two heads bent much closer to each other. Eyes locked, hearts beat in sync, breaths intermingled and the knowing breeze snuffed out the candles, granting a heartfelt birthday wish.