Their eyes met across a crowded ballroom. One the son of an upper-class businessman; the other a waiter barely earning enough to survive. The birthday boy should have felt happy, but tonight he felt only the emptiness in his heart. Joshua had been anxiously looking for any escape from the monotony of listening to his father’s business associates’ boring chatter. His eyes eventually settled on one of the waiters who was looking his way.

The man, barely more than a boy, really smiled in Joshua’s direction, and his heart soared. But in a split second the waiter was gone. Joshua’s gaze returned to his hands clenched tightly in his lap and his heart fell once more in his chest.