It was over by the apples where I noticed her. She was reaching for a Braeburn, smelling it, and when she looked to her right, I saw her face. Pretty. Pale skin and dark eyes. So familiar.

Where did I know her from?

I put some tomatoes in a bag and made my way to the apples. She was gone by then. I was still thinking. Maybe she lived in the neighborhood, and I saw her on my daily run.

I headed to the coffee aisle to pick up some pods and there she was again, now pondering the cereals. Her hair was dark brown tied up in a loose bun. A sharp contrast to her white skin. Was she a teacher at Dylan’s school?

She grabbed some instant oatmeal. And walked on.

I wheeled over to the meat section and was contemplating the various packages of ground beef when I saw her again out of the corner of my eye. She was a few paces over by the cheese case, holding herself to stave off a shiver. Her well-manicured hand displayed a dark green four-leaf clover tattoo between her thumb and forefinger.

A muzak version of David Bowie’s “Fame” was now hovering above the aisles. I looked up and located a speaker.

Did I know her from a flight? I had been traveling back and forth between the coasts over the last few months. Maybe I sat next to her, or she was a flight attendant.

I pushed my cart. Was she part of the recent deals I was doing? The biz dev lead or an analyst? There were always analysts coming in and out of conference rooms bringing decks and notebooks filled with data and what-not.

It was all I could do to keep myself focused on the task at hand. And I did have one task to get some paper towels.

I worked my way to the paper goods aisle but before I got there, I saw her by the candy. I turned my cart hard right and made a casual beeline for her. We ended up facing each other, carts almost touching. I found some fancy European cookies to pretend to care about and looked over at her thinking maybe she would recognize me and this mystery would be solved.

She looked at me, I think.

I smiled.

She did not. And strode past me. I looked down at the “little schoolboy” cookies in my hand. I switched the milk chocolate for the dark chocolate and threw the package into my cart.

By the time I grabbed everything and went through the check-out, I started to think that maybe I knew her from a previous life. Maybe we were running from pterodactyls together, finding safety in a cave.

I got in my car and pulled out. At the exit I arrived at the exact moment as a gorgeous black Audi convertible. Top down, it was her. She was behind the wheel wearing chunky Cartier sunglasses. We both stopped and I gestured for her to go first. She swung her car into the lane and roared off toward the Valley. I went in the opposite direction, through the tree-lined flats to my little corner of the world.

I unloaded the groceries. The house was quiet.

I reached for my iPad and sat down on the bed. An array of apps appeared before me. I pressed Safari. And then plugged one of my sites into the address bar.

There she was.