Once upon a place, there was a time and a stage. A duo was due to see a showing. A cast of wills to display their skills and the directors’ abilities to cast a spell as they all told the tale in tandem.
They were off to the races with smiles on their faces offering each Eskimo kisses when all of a sudden, the romantic scene came apart at the seams as a single word, or a title, it would seem, flashed upon the man’s phone screen. Who is wifey? She asked scowling, realizing this rogue was no man of her dreams.
It’s a work thing. A joke, really. Please, don’t make a scene, we were having fun, weren’t we?
She waved the driver to the nearest break in the busy street. She walked to the window and he waved her away; whispering ‘consider it his treat’. She smiled through building tears, the kindness-adding heart as she wiped them, and the driver rushed away.
She took a moment to compose her feet. She checked her purse for all of her things. She needed no reason to see him again. Her heart, full of grief, a new pin added to the others’ collecting.
How many more until they’re all that’s left of me? She caught herself wondering, then resenting the feeling manifesting. No. I refuse it, who they are is nothing to me. I am a fisherman over the sea, How can I know what fish I am reeling until it’s revealed at the surface between? Invigorated by the thought, she moved to the beat that was nonstop. The feet of fellow pedestrians guided her movement she fell into step in between.
A flashing neon sign for a coffee shop boasting ‘a fine golden roast’ lifted her spirits further from the humiliation of just being one in a line of other beings. Used only to fill the space between each. She shivered involuntarily. As if casting the heavy feeling away. It wasn’t her fault he acted that way. It was probably something generational, but why had she drawn him in. Had it been, her desperation to find a compatible mate? Someone who wasn’t a total reprobate, a corporate junkie, an indoctrinated brand zealot, or a religious zombie?!
She frowned into the floor surrounding her feet. Not wanting to make eye contact with any other being. She was feeling mean and didn’t want to unwittingly start something with anyone else who might be quick for triggering. There was one. Two. Three. Four. Five sets of feet standing between her and a sweet latte of some kind. She had time to think through the storm cloud gathering. Is it too much to ask for someone complimentary, I’m not asking for someone just like me or anything crazy, or is it crazy to think compatibility is still a thing?!
Doop. Doop. The line stepped forward like a slinky. One down. Four to go.
One by one the line dwindled, shifting steadily until the barista cried next in line and it was she who stepped up for her prize. I’d like a mocha, make it white with a triple shot of espresso and extra whipped cream. Her voice was especially melancholy causing the cashier’s heart to leap. Into action she swung, smiling sheepishly, saying something along the lines of; one of those days, eh?
She sniffled and blinked, then nodding smiled back gratefully. Rolling her eyes and making a joke about the bad behavior of her latest pursuit. I guess that’s what I get for going out on a limb…
The sweet barista shook her head and handed the offering while tightening its lid. No, what you get is a delicious white mocha latte with extra whipped cream, on me. She said.
A gift was exactly what her heart had needed. Not to make up. Not to soften the blow of something. Simply a human, being kind, for no reason. She pulled a crumpled ten-dollar bill from the folds of her purse and smooshed it into the tip jar.
Good luck out there! She said, with a nod of her head. It was too nice a day to sit inside and mope, outside moping was best anyway because sunglasses were then a thing. No one would see if a rogue tear would leak. She aimed for the door again smiling. A date she was promised, and one she would have. With herself, the best companion she ever had.
She sat hard on the metal seat. Harder than she had at first meant. ooft. She breathed exasperatedly. Foam exploding from the opening on the coffee lid standing between her and being scalded.
One of those days? A stranger sang out from across the way. another patio to a bar a hop and a skip away. and only slightly elevated from where she was setting.
She chuckled, you’re the second person to say that to me. Does it show so easily?
I mean, only in the way you took your seat. He teased.
Well, you aren’t wrong, she mused good-humoredly.
Care to share the burden with me, a stranger drinking on a solo journey? He raised a glass of some dark bubbling booze.
Drinking alone, a little sad to be asking me to unburden myself don’t you think? She joked rather harshly, the edge coming from her most recent brush with a foregone conclusion. ‘men only wanted one thing.‘
I hadn’t planned to drink alone. The stranger offered back candidly. but as of an hour ago, I came to the conclusion my dinner plans were an illusion that ghosted me.
She turned in her chair as if her body became aware of the conversation and shifted into gear. I’m sorry to hear that, her loss I guess… you don’t seem like a total mess. She jested more friendly. The two joined in laughing.
Well if you come over, keep me company while you explain to me what a total mess looks like; so as I don’t look like a total fool drinking by myself while enjoying the fresh air and view, I’d be obliged to do the same for you… buy you dinner that is. He smiled sweetly. Her heart started beating differently. the serendipity, the chances of everything.
You know, I can sum that up pretty easily, what a total mess is, to me, might be a husband with a good woman already, turning her into a mean monstrosity by lying, juggling, and spending time with women who are probably just like her before he got his claws in. I can’t imagine not knowing someone I’d built my life with was doing any of that to me.
Nope, the man chuckled, waiting to continue as she left the cafe courtyard and made her way to the close at hand back gate. She let herself in and swung up onto the barstool across the table from her new friend as he waved over the barmaid. I can say from experience you always do, from the other side of the mountain. He waved his hand nobly. I’m a divorcee.
Oh damn. She murmured an apology. Well I was on my way to dinner with prince charming, only to see he already had a queen, that was the moral of my story.
Oh damn. The stranger repeated taking a drink. I apologize on behalf of lesser versions of me. He bowed humorously.
The waitress made her way to them and asked what she’d be drinking. A house red, was her reply as she flashed her ID before the barkeep was back on her merry way, and the two joined back into what they were saying.
What is it with people these days? She shook her head contemplatively while sipping the foam from the top of her coffee. Is there no sense of loyalty? Makes me never want to marry. I’ve yet to see a single do so happily.
The man chuckled bitterly. Because we all do it the wrong way… marriage is a matter of the heart. No need for contracts in the true version it’s an unfolding that lasts eternally. That’s what I think. But I’m starting to believe I might be a dying breed. Something in his expression took root in the woman. Like the purr of a kitten, it radiated deep from within.
I was beginning to feel the same way. Together they chuckled and cheered their drinks, Life is the best at turning lemons into lemonade…