In Cape Town she wondered whether she should wait for him to be close to her before she got out of her seat and got her bag down from the overhead compartment. But that felt too obvious, so she just stepped into the line getting off the plane.

And then, there he was again at the luggage belt, parking his trolley next to hers.

They made some small talk. He was an IT specialist for a chain of restaurants and had been to Joburg to do some training for new staff. He asked about her work and what she’d been doing in Joburg. The conversation was easy. When her bag came around, she almost missed it, and then they got chatting again. She almost forgot her mother was outside. When he got his bag and put it on his trolley, she was just telling him that she had seen Trevor Noah in Joburg.

“Ah, I love Trevor man! He’s so funny!” he responded and started asking her whether he’d told this and that funny story at the show.

Suddenly they were outside in the arrivals hall, still talking, and there was Mommy, standing in front of her trolley.

“My darling!” Reza and her mother kissed and hugged, then Reza stepped back and held her mother’s two wrists gently in her hand to inspect the heavy casts. Someone cleared their throat, and they both suddenly remembered where they were. Reza saw Uncle Ali standing behind her mother, tall and solemn-looking with his long beard.

“Hello Reza,” he said in his deep voice. “Welcome back.”

“Hello Uncle Ali. How are you?”

Uncle Ali cleared his throat and lifted one eyebrow, looking slightly over Reza’s left shoulder.

“Oh! Oh, I forgot! Sorry. Mommy, Uncle Ali, this is…” she said, turning to the young man.

“I’m Wallied. Please to meet you.”

“Wallied, this is Uncle Ali Samsodien and this is my mother, Mrs Gamaldien.” They all shook hands.

The four of them turned towards the entrance and walked out, Reza’s mother chatting non-stop, nervous and excited all at once. At the door, Wallied said, “Well, goodbye. It was nice to meet you Reza,” and she realised she’d never told him her name. He must have remembered from Uncle Ali’s greeting. “Goodbye Mr Samsodien, goodbye Mrs Gamaldien. It was nice to meet you.”

“But now, how are you getting home, young man?” asked Uncle Ali. “I don’t see your people.”

“Oh, they’re used to me travelling all the time. Sometimes my cousin picks me up when I go to Joburg, but here I just catch the bus to town and I take a taxi to Athlone. The company pays.”

“But Athlone’s on the way to the Bo-Kaap. Come, my man, come. Uncle Ali’s giving you a lift home tonight. No arguments.”

They all loaded into Uncle Ali’s new little Renault and Reza and Wallied got into the back together. Everyone was talking as though this happened all the time – Reza and her mother in a car with men who weren’t from their family. It felt so comfortable and normal, Reza had to shake her disbelieving head now and again.

“It’s just at the end of this block, next to the green house,” Wallied said, leaning forwards to point through the front window. As he sat back, his hand touched hers and they both got a fright, and then smiled at each other.

They said goodbye and thank you and drove towards the city, where the mountain was almost as black as the night sky by now.

“What a nice young man,” said her mother.

“Yes,” said Uncle Ali.

Reza sighed. She wished she could fly again soon.

The next week began as usual, so that after just two days it felt like she’d never been away. On Wednesday morning, at her till, she was thinking about whether to buy herself an extra something for lunch. It was Nonthombi’s day off and because they weren’t sharing their lunch, it meant Reza had no fruit. That was Nonthombi’s speciality; she loved fruit.

Reza pushed the button at her till and the automated voice said: “Next customer please. Teller five.” She looked up to greet her customer.

“Hello Reza,” he said, smiling as he put his basket on the counter.

Reza felt as though her body was suddenly lighter and might float up a little, off the ground.

“Hello Wallied.”

***

Tell us: Have you ever gone out of your way to find someone you are attracted to like, Wallied has done? Is Reza’s mother also falling in love?