Ripples in the Rain

Chapter Two

My work day at the library began smoothly, as usual. There were a few people looking for locations of books, some were unhappy with our collection, some were just being disruptive, but those were things I dealt with every day. Compared to Wall Street brokers, my job was a walk in a park. At lunch time, I headed to a small cafe across the library, where they made delicious pastrami sandwiches. My work colleague, Sarah, came along with me. We sat at our usual corner table, sitting by the window.

Our sandwich arrived soon after we ordered. It was a quiet afternoon, unusual for an area surrounded by numerous offices. As I was about to chew on my sandwich, I heard someone singing.

"What's going on?" Sarah said as she pointed to the corner of the cafe, where a person sat on a stool with a guitar, singing. "Since when do they have lunchtime performances here?"

I gasped when I saw who the person singing was. It was Oscar Isaac, the actor I met yesterday.

"Oh my gosh," I told Sarah. "I saw this guy yesterday, at the cinema."

Sarah smiled. "He has a beautiful voice. Is he a famous singer?"

I shook my head firmly. "He's an actor."

"He should be a singer then," Sarah exclaimed. "He's good."

I completely agreed with Sarah, he was a really good singer. And the songs were beautiful. I wondered if he wrote the songs himself.

Oscar played four songs in a row before the performance ended with loud applause from the few customers who were in the cafe. I think he must've seen me because he walked to our table straight afterwards.

"Hey, I remember you. It's Pippa, right? " he said with the most gorgeous smile I'd ever seen. "Is this your local hangout?"

"I work across the road," I answered and pointed to the direction of the library where I worked. "The library just over there."

"Oh," he said. "I don't normally go here but I know the owner of this cafe and he practically dragged me here to perform."

Sarah, who had been quiet for the first few minutes of our conversation, decided to join in. "You are a really good singer. Did you write those songs yourself?"

He nodded. "I did, but I haven't been very productive lately."

"That's a shame," Sarah said. "You should do this more often. Do it professionally, like your acting."

He grinned. "Haven't done much of acting as well."

"Come and join us at our table here," Sarah said. "If you'd like."

"Sure," he said, pulling up a chair from a table beside us and sat down right next to me.

"My lunch hour is almost up," Sarah stood up and winked at me. "You two continue chatting." She placed her hand on my left shoulder and said, "See you at work, Pip."

I blushed, realising that Sarah tried to set me up with this guy. In fact, she's been trying to find me a new boyfriend for a few months now.

"Nice meeting you," Oscar said to Sarah before she left. He didn't seem to mind at all that Sarah was leaving us alone.

"So Pippa," he said. "I might be out of line here, since I don't know if you're married or dating anyone at the moment, but I'd like to have dinner with you tonight, if you're free."

Wow, I thought to myself. This guy moved very fast. But I was relieved, because I liked him a lot. Despite his occasional defeatist attitude and his scruffy beard, I could see the funny, smart guy inside, waiting to come out.

"I'm not married anymore and I haven't been dating since my divorce because I've been busy with my two daughters." I added, "And dinner would be great."

"Two daughters, that sounds lovely." He sounded convincing, like he actually liked the fact that I had children. "I have a son," he said. "He lives with his mother, in LA."

"I'm sorry," I remarked. "It must be hard for you."

"It has been really hard. He's nearly three years old now but he doesn't really know who I am, " he said, "I've probably seen him ten times, ever. He thinks I'm a friendly uncle who looks a lot like him."

I could see that tears were starting to form in his eyes. "His name is Stefan and he lives with my ex girlfriend, Alana and her husband,  Matt."

"Stefan is a beautiful name," I added. "You must really miss him. I don't think I could stand being separated from my daughters."

"I miss him terribly," he said, "And that's one of the reasons why I haven't been taking many acting jobs since my ex took him away from me."

I reached over and placed my hand on top of his. "I don't think you should stop doing what you love because of what happened."

"I stopped doing anything," he said. "All I did was mope around and cry. Just like when you saw me at the cinema yesterday."

I smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry," I said.
Oscar said, "Don't apologise, it's not your fault." He added,"I'm glad that I met you at the cinema. I haven't really talked to anyone for ages and somehow, I found it really easy to talk to you."