At Least We Have Good Weather: A Life of Love and Loss

Chapter 22

Now that I had a first name for Hot Train Girl #2, Noelene and knew where she worked, I thought things would be so much easier from here on out. In this day and age, this should be more than enough info to find a way to contact her outside of our chance meetings on the train.

But there was nothing. It was almost as if she didn't exist online. Did she maybe give me a fake name? My own paranoia said yes, but I kept searching for a way to contact her.

After days of trying, I gave up, and accepted that if Noelene and I were to see each other again, it would have to be on Fate's schedule.

A few weeks after I gave her the poem and got her name, I finally saw her on the morning train again. Knowing I only had 12 minutes with her, there were no more excuses.

I boarded the train with my usual gusto, and went right up to her oozing confidence as I once again asked permission to take the seat next to her.

Like the first time, she obliged and we began the second round of getting to know each other. She started off by telling me how amazing my poem was, and it was so romantic she almost cried. I was over the moon. Finally something I had done for a girl had the desired effect. But I played it cool.

I asked her last name, but she didn't want to give it to me, for fear that I was some stalker - (her exact words.)

As I had included my business card with my first note many months ago, she knew who I was, and also joked that she had told her father and brothers about me, so should anything happen to her, they had my details. I awkwardly laughed at this, but thought A) she's already mentioned me to her family! B) She might think I'm a psycho.

Noelene also mentioned to me that her father was a pastor and that she was a big Jesus girl. Now normally, this would set off alarm bells and send me running for the hills, as I generally don't gel well with the religious type. But for some reason, it didn't even faze me. I was almost instantly accepting of something that would normally be a difficult subject to address. Plus, perhaps the fact that her religion was such an important facet of her life, maybe, just maybe, I had finally found the good decent girl I deserved. It was a lot to try and process in 12 minutes, so I rather focused on her pretty but sad eyes.

I told her that I had searched the Internet tirelessly to find a way to contact her, but came up with nothing, prompting her to admit this was deliberate and she was avoiding being found.

This was certainly turning into a challenge.

As we spoke, I noticed a scar on her neck, and as I asked how she got it, I traced my finger across it, touching her skin. It felt like a lightning bolt hit me as I did. I wasn't sure how she felt...but I kept thinking to myself...she's real. This is real. (And also, I'm finally touching a girl again!)

Not one to give up easily, I asked her for her surname one more time. She said I would never find out, but she did tell me it was 10 letters long.

Since I was as brave as I was ever likely to be, I said I would like to take her to lunch, she didn't totally dismiss the idea but she was very hesitant to say yes. So I decided to make it more of something I needed to earn, and less of an awkward question. A deal was made.

If I could figure out her surname and a way to contact her, she had to do lunch with me. She laughed and agreed. Citing that there was no way I would, but the only rule was I wasn't allowed to contact her work to find out what I needed to know. It seemed fair, and I agreed.

We parted ways, and I literally skipped across the road in excitement. I had a new challenge, and more importantly, enough info to find a way to contact this mysterious girl.

Straight after my morning coffee, I hit the Internet and began searching for as many 10 letter Indian surnames as I could find. Surprisingly, there were quite a few.

Then, I took each surname, associated it with the word Pastor, and began searching for Pastors who plied their trade in certain areas I knew she could possibly be from in order to take the same train as me.

This narrowed the search down to two possible surnames.

Step three, was to figure out the email format of her employer. As they were a well- known firm, there were several different formats that could potentially have been correct.

I began emailing different combinations of email addresses. First name and surname, initial and surname, surname and initial, you name it. I tried it. It was like the Rubik's cube of email addresses.

Each one after the next came back undeliverable.

I must have tried at least 25 different combinations until finally...one mail went off without an error coming back immediately.

I waited a few more minutes, and still nothing. It seemed like I might be on to something.

The subject of the email was "So I guess this means you have to do lunch with me", which I thought was the perfect blend of cockiness and charm.

The rest of the office sat in anticipation with me as we waited for a reply. Eventually after an hour I began to fear the worst.

I could handle neither the tension nor the disappointment that either scenario would present me with, and I decided to take a walk.

As I walked around the shopping centre like a nervous patient awaiting his test results, my mind began to play games with me with a series of "what if" questions.

What if the address was wrong? What if the address was right?

What if she freaked out that I figured it out? What if she replied with something mean? What if she replied with something amazing?

Finally, I decided I had to go back to the office and find out.

When I got back to my desk, like a shining light from heaven, there it was...a reply from Noelene.

I was overjoyed with happiness, and scared stiff from fear at the same time. My hands were shaking, but I opened the email.

It was good.

She was amazed how on Earth I managed to figure out her email address, and finished off her response, with "yes, I guess I do owe you that lunch now..."

The office erupted in cheers, streamers came down from the ceiling, champagne corks popped into the air, and my colleagues hoisted me on their shoulders chanting my name in unison.

Well, in my head at least.

But after 6 months, I had finally made my move. I had a good feeling about this one, and after I calmed down, I typed up my reply to her email, thinking we may just have a long afternoon ahead of us...