The Heart of the Night

Chapter Four

"NEXT!" Mandy called out as her previous customer left.

It was a busy early afternoon at the bank she worked at and she was shuffling through her paper work, when a familiar figure approached her causing her to freeze as she looked up.

Sophia she thought to herself, feeling herself begin to tremble as the woman flashed a dazzling pearly white smile at her and swallowing nervously. She was wearing a little black dress, her jet black hair hanging down past her waist and she held a folded black umbrella in one hand.

"How may I help you miss?" Mandy asked, pretended like she didn't know her and not understanding why she felt so strange around this woman, but she didn't want to put much thought into it.

"Oh, you look familiar," Sophia's pleasant voice commented.

"Well I do work here almost every day," Mandy replied with a weak smile.

"No...I believe I have seen you somewhere else before..." The woman continued, pressing her slender fingers to her lips in thought.

"Uhh, well..." Mandy stammered beginning to sweat.

"I KNOW," Sophia cut her off, "I served you the other night at the diner."

Chills ran down Mandy's spine as she felt butterflies erupt in her stomach, this beautiful woman remembered a plain jane like herself and it made her feel giddy.

"Oh, HI," Mandy stated, trying to play it cool, "How have you been?"

"Oh you know, living the dream," Sophia laughed.

"Your name is Sophia, right?" Mandy pretended to be clueless about the woman.

"Yes! How wonderful of you to remember...Mandy," Sophia said, pointing to Mandy's name tag, "Say, would you like to get together for coffee sometime? I just recently moved here and you seem like wonderful company."

"SURE," Mandy blurted, blushing as she closed her mouth and hoping that she hadn't just made herself seem like a crazy person.

"Wonderful," Sophia chuckled, "I'll give you my cell phone number."

Grabbing a piece of scrap paper from her purse, she took the pen off the counter and scribbled down her information.

"It's wonderful that we are doing this, but is there something I can assist you with today?" Mandy inquired, noticing the line getting long and not wanting to get in trouble for having such a casual conversation on the clock.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry," Sophia apologized gently, "I would like to make a deposit please."