petrichor

/ˈpeˌtrīkôr/

noun

a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.

        It was April. The office building towered over all others around it, and the glass doors were fogged up from the humidity. The only sounds were the humming of the elevators and the pitter-pattering of the rain outside. I wouldn’t have seen her if not for me looking up from my phone at that moment. Funny how things work, right?  She was using this flimsy manilla folder to shield herself from the rain and I felt my feet moving before I registered what was happening. She looked at me with the most adorable look of confusion that I wanted to get lost in her eyes forever. I smiled, my umbrella making its way over the both of us.

    “Thanks. I’m Robin.”

    “Sam.”

    A quick walk to her car and an exchange of numbers later, it had begun. There was a warm feeling in my chest that I couldn’t quite place, and when the rain stopped the only thing left was the smell of petrichor. 

——

     I visited her again today. It was raining, so I thought it was fitting. The flower shop finally had the blue violets she loved. I brought the same umbrella with me, whether by chance or on purpose I couldn’t say. I walked on the grass until I finally made it. There she was, and it was just as striking as the first time I had heard her name. It still replayed in my mind all the time, everything just Robin, Robin, Robin… I smiled, the umbrella moving just like it had all those years ago.

      The rain stopped, and as I looked at the gravestone with the name of the love of my life on it, I could finally place the same overwhelming feeling of longing I had felt when first meeting her. Seeing the date that her life was cut short all too soon, the words daughter and wife staring back at me as if she was calling out to me.

     I’m older now, and the rain still comes, the love I have for her is still there. I feel her presence, and I know that if she was here right now she would have mentioned just how much she loved the smell of petrichor.