Fragments of Long-Lost Loves

After reluctantly attending the wedding of his best friend, Tom Roberts wanders into the Egyptian Room of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the amber fragment of the lips of Queen Nefertiti brings him to an abrupt stop. Staring at it in awe, he thinks back upon all the girls, whose paths, fleetingly, have crossed his. But one stands out above all the rest--Takouhi Chebookjian.
Their chance meeting took place in a parking lot where, by accident, she backed into his car. Shrugging it off, he invited her to have coffee and a muffin with him at a nearby café. She accepted and, thus, began their relationship. Soon, however, she displayed an uncanny ability to overwhelm his defenses and reach into his innermost thoughts. So, feeling vulnerable and threatened, he tried, as he usually did in such situations, to cut and run. For the first time in his life, however, he couldn't do it; for, he found her irresistible.
But, during that idyllic summer, just as he felt his cup was running over with happiness and he was coming to realize he couldn't continue to run away from life's problems, tragedy struck, shattering the cup.