Strangers Vowed to Reunite, But Didn’t Exchange Contact Info. 10 Months Later, They Both Showed Up: 'New York Magic' (Exclusive)

• While dining at a New York City restaurant on Feb. 28, 2024, Erin Jackson, of Arkansas, met a stranger named Sue — and the two struck up a friendship

• They agreed to meet again on Dec. 27 at the same restaurant, but purposefully decided not to exchange contact information — and when the time arrived, they both had to take a leap of faith (and in Jackson's case, a flight) and trust that the other would stay true to their word.

• “We were just two people who really wanted to keep a promise to each other," Jackson tells PEOPLE

On Feb. 28, 2024, Erin Jackson was at her favorite restaurant for her birthday dinner in New York City with her husband and some friends. That night, Jackson, who had traveled from Arkansas, and the rest of her party were seated near to a pair of strangers — one of them a Brooklyn resident named Sue.

“We just started talking to them over the course of the dinner,” Jackson, 32, an owner of a marketing tech startup, tells PEOPLE. “They were so fun and started talking back and by the end of the dinner we were sharing our food with each other.

As they were walking out of the restaurant at the end of the night, Jackson says that Sue, who is in her 70s, told her, "New York magic is real, so I hope we run into each other sometime."

In response, Jackson says she replied: "I believe in New York magic, but what if we create a little bit of our own? Let's plan a time to run into each other."

Related: ‘Thanksgiving Grandma’ Wanda Dench’s Husband Died in 2020. Now She’s Open to ‘Finding Second Love’

The two strangers agreed that they would meet 10 months later, on Dec. 27, 2024, at the same Brooklyn restaurant — and at 7 p.m. The twist? They intentionally didn’t exchange any contact information. Instead, both of them would have no choice but to take a leap of faith, trusting they would both show up.

In a scene straight out of a movie, the two women did fulfill that promise last month — and footage of their Brooklyn Heights reunion went viral.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.  

Jackson, who lives in Arkansas with her husband and two children, says she was always confident she would meet Sue again.

“We came because that's when we promised Sue that we would be there,” adds the mom, who flew into New York City on Dec. 27 for the occasion. “It was never a thought in our mind to not come. We were always going to be at that dinner."

Still, that didn't mean she wasn't a little nervous.

“At that point, I had brought four friends up to New York with me, my husband, our two young kids. So it just kind of felt like, 'I really hope that this works out for everyone,' " she says. "Not that I thought anyone would be upset — just that this could be something really special."

Related: Postal Worker Gets Invited to Thanksgiving Dinner After Saving Stranger’s Life

As fate would have it, Jackson was still en route to the restaurant when one of her friends noticed a woman really far away on the street and wondered, could that be Sue?

And it was.

“She turned around and looked at me,” she says, “and I looked back at her and both of our eyes got big. Then we just screamed for four minutes straight."

Once they were inside the restaurant, the two former strangers talked about everything.

“It's interesting when you don't talk to someone for nearly a year and you don't really know them, but then you follow through on this promise,” says Jackson, who shares that even though they'd only talked for 30 minuets the first time they met, everything felt so familiar between them this time around.

"It felt like, 'Oh, we're old friends now. There's not really room for small talk here. We're in this,' " she says.

Related: Wedding Party and Family Reunion Come Together to Give Couple 'Magical' First Dance in Basement During Tornado (Exclusive)

Jackson says that Sue, who declined to be interviewed by PEOPLE, is a member of a theater group in Brooklyn.

“We talked about her being widowed," she recalls. "We talked about me raising my kids. We talked about just kind of everything. It felt like any topic's open.”

The mom adds that Sue is “really grateful that a lot of people have felt so much joy" watching their reunion. "She kept saying, ‘I'm so glad other people can feel some of that magic,’ I'm really glad we get to spread it around a little,' " says Jackson.

The two friends, who have since exchanged contact information, are already planning to have another reunion dinner in June — and Jackson adds that the pair will likely be spending even more time with each other soon, as her family will be moving to Brooklyn.

"We've wanted to live in the city forever," she shares.

As for who she feels about all the viral attention, Jackson says establishing a friendship with Sue has always been what's most important to her.

"We were just two people who really wanted to keep a promise to each other, and who really felt chemistry and felt like we could be friends,” she says. “All of the other stuff is fun and exciting and funny. But at the end of the day, I can say in full honesty, I don't care about it that much…My goal from this whole thing was never for other people to find out about it. It was always just to be her friend.”

Read the original article on People