Work was going on like this every day. Work, eat, scroll on my phone, then sleep. My friends could clearly see that I was in a dead end. After yoga class, Lani stopped me at the door one evening. She stood with her arms crossed and gave me a teasing look.
"A date is what you need," she told me.
"A blind date. Café Indigo at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Daniel is his name. Don't be late there."
I groaned. “Lani, blind dates never go well.”
She grinned. “Trust me.”
I was so anxious that I changed my outfit three times before I finally settled on a simple dress. When I got to Café Indigo, I was nervous, but the place was already calming my nerves. The aroma of coffee and bread that was barely noticeable in the room. Laughter was mingling with the noise of the conversation and the clinking of cups.
There was a man wearing spectacles and a blue shirt sitting by the window who caught my eye. Lani informed me that Daniel was tall, wore glasses, and had a blue shirt. Therefore, it must be him.
I walked over and smiled. “Daniel?”
He looked up, surprised, then smiled back. “Uh… yes? Sit, please.”
We began with some small talk about the café and the cheesecake. The conversation soon grew more profound. He shared with me the stories of his grandmother’s vinyl records. I told him I occasionally felt trapped, as if the world was moving past me.
He heard me. No criticism from him. I laughed more than I had in a long time.
After an hour, another man entered tall, wearing glasses, bright blue shirt. He glanced at the room, looked at his phone, and started coming over to us.
My stomach dropped.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m Daniel. Are you Maya?”
I froze. My cheeks burned.
The man across from me burst out laughing. “Wow,” he said. “I’m not your date, am I?”
I covered my face. “I’m so sorry. I thought…”
He smiled broadly. "I'm Theo. It's not your fault. This chat was the best for a pretty long time." He got up, put on his jacket and with a small wave said to me, "Good luck with Daniel. Also, if you like mysteries, The Silent Witness is the one. Top shelf, left corner." Then he was gone.
I had a long conversation with Daniel. He was nice, polite, and kind. But without the spark.
The following day, I returned to the café with the purpose to have a coffee, but actually, I was hoping that Theo would be there.
“Leaving so soon?” a voice said.
It was Theo. He was holding a book, smiling the same easy smile.
“You again,” I said.
“Me again,” he said. “I had to check if you survived your date.”
“Barely,” I teased.
He tilted his head. “Want to try again? This time, no blind date. Just us.”
I smiled. “I’d like that.”
After that, our meetings increased in number. We did, more or less, everything together; walking, telling each other our life stories, and trading songs. Theo was not the perfect one, he spoiled movies by adding random characters and lost his socks all the time but he was real. He was on his feet, with his ear always open and making life simpler.
One night, there was a bit of a surprise on my doorstep. It was a classic (from the '70s) record The Silent Witness soundtrack, with a note: “Every mystery deserves a soundtrack.” I smiled and held it tight to me.
Maybe, a few months later, we found ourselves at the same café, by the window. The light of the sun was like a halo on Theo’s face.
“Do you ever think,” I asked, “what would’ve happened if I’d sat at the right table that night?”
Theo held my hand. “No,” he said. “I think you were exactly where you needed to be.”
I looked at him and felt a quiet joy.
It is my habit to narrate to my friends this particular story when they lament about opportunities that have passed by. The story is about me intercepting the wrong table and finding the right person there.
The thing is that a mistake or failure to do something may be the universe sending you a signal that there is something better for you. In fact, a crowded café always makes me grin. Who knows, the wrong table may be reserved for a future guest.
