Falling in Love...Again

by AnonYMous

  “Do you have any idea how fast you were going?” I heard him ask.

  Bracing myself, I turned my head and looked up at him. My heart stopped and my mouth dropped open. I couldn’t seem to get my voice to function. “Uh, no, I—”

  “Have you been drinking, ma’am?”

  I shook my head. My throat was closed so tightly that I couldn’t have managed to utter another word if my life had depended on it. I finally understood what it felt like to be dumbstruck.

  I’m not sure how to explain the feeling that came over me. He wasn’t the handsome type who dazzles women. He might easily be overlooked in a crowd. But there was something about him that captured my attention. I felt an instant attraction; I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

  Then I wondered what had happened to the practical, levelheaded woman I used to be. This wasn’t like me at all. There I was, facing a traffic ticket, something that was definitely not in my budget, and all I could think about was how drawn I was to the police officer? Get a grip! I scolded myself.

  “You were doing fifty in a thirty-five mile-per-hour zone. Do you realize,” he asked, his eyes darkening with anger, “that there’s a school just a couple of blocks from here?”

  Pulling in another deep breath, I nodded. “I’m very sorry, Officer. I know that I was going too fast. And I know this isn’t a good excuse,” I added, “but that school is where I’m headed. My daughter’s open house is this afternoon. I was trying to get there before school lets out.”

  “You have a daughter at Saw Mill Elementary?” He seemed to look a little closer at me. “Who’s her teacher?”

  I paused for a moment, wondering if it was a trick question. “She’s in Mrs. Phillips’ second-grade class.”

  “Really!” He smiled.

  My heart did a huge flip-flop. I was wrong about him not being handsome. When he smiled, he was the best-looking man I’d ever laid eyes on. His eyes were the color of the ocean on a sunny day, and deep dimples adorned his cheeks. His nametag read Officer J. Walsh. I wondered what the “J” stood for.

  “I have a daughter in Mrs. Phillips’ class, too,” he said.

  “You do? What’s her name?”

  “Elizabeth Walsh.”

  “Lizzie! Of course; she sits next to Shannon,” I said. “She talks about her all the time.”

  “Shannon,” he said, chuckling, “I hear all about her, too. It’s a small world.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “So, you’re Shannon’s mom.”

  I started thinking about Shannon. She was probably sitting at her desk with her eyes glued to the door, anxiously waiting for me to arrive. I looked longingly toward the school and I wanted to plead with the officer to let me go. It was only two more blocks. Maybe I could still make it.

  “I’m afraid that I missed the open house, too,” Officer Walsh said. I heard the regret in his voice as he, too, turned his head to look in the direction of the school.

  I felt a sharp stab of frustration and closed my eyes. I’d also heard the word “too.” I figured that it meant that I wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

  “I’ll try to get this done as quickly as possible,” he said as he turned and walked back to his patrol car.

  By that time, I could hear the children’s voices and I knew that it was too late. The sidewalks were filling with little ones rushing home from school.

  It seemed like hours, but I’m sure it was only a few minutes before Officer Walsh was once again standing beside my car.

  “I wish I didn’t have to do this,” he said as he handed me the ticket, “but there’s a school in the area. We have to look out for our youngsters. You should know that.”

  I nodded and tears sprang to my eyes. “You’re absolutely right. I was very foolish. I apologize.”

  “Go,” he said. “Maybe you can still catch Mrs. Phillips before she leaves for the day. But keep your speed down,” he warned.

  “I will,” I said. “I promise.”

  He waved as I pulled away from the curb, and I returned the wave. Then I concentrated on getting to that school as quickly as I could.

  But I was too late. The class day was over and all the children had gone home. By the time I got to Shannon’s classroom, it was locked.

  With a heavy heart, I drove the few blocks home. I was very careful to stay under the speed limit. After school, Shannon walks home with the neighborhood kids and then stays at the Bryants’ house until I pick her up. I parked the car in our driveway and walked over to get her.

  I apologized again and again as we walked home, and for supper, I made her favorite—sloppy joes. As I cleaned up the kitchen, I told her again how sorry I was that I hadn’t made it to her school in time.

  “It’s okay, but you shouldn’t have been driving so fast,” she scolded me. “Then the policeman wouldn’t have stopped you.”

  I nodded. “What can I say? You’re right.”

  “So, if I’m right,” she said, her eyes wide and questioning, “then how come you’re smiling?”

  “Am I?” I felt a blush creep into my cheeks. “I guess you just have a silly mom.” I surely couldn’t tell her that I was still thinking about how handsome the policeman was who’d stopped me.

  “You’re not silly, Mommy,” she said. “But I’m still mad at you.”

  “You are?” I looked at her, seeing the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Hmm. What can I do to make it better?”

  She tilted her head to one side and tapped her finger against her chin. “Well, for one thing, Mrs. Phillips said that any parents who couldn’t make it today could come tomorrow. Will you?”

  “Yes! Absolutely!” I pressed a kiss against her cheek, thankful that someone was giving me a second chance. “Am I off the hook now?”

  She shook her head and grinned impishly. “Nope. I’m thinking it’ll probably take—hmm, let me think about this—the zoo! Can we go, Mommy? On Saturday?”

  “The zoo!” I exclaimed. “Wow, you drive a hard bargain, young lady.”

  “I know. So can we go? Please? We haven’t been there in forever.”

  Resting my cheek on the top of her head, I thought about how long it had been since we’d been anywhere. With the demands of my work, Shannon’s school, and all the other responsibilities of life, it was difficult to find time to just have fun together. Plus, our tight budget didn’t allow us many extras. The zoo was far from our home and there was a fairly hefty entrance fee. But what a joy it would be, I thought, to spend the whole day with my daughter. We could enjoy the animals and the fresh air, and stuff ourselves with hot dogs and chips. Shannon was right. We hadn’t been there in forever.

  “My sweet child, you have the best ideas!” I told her. “Let’s do it. We’ll have a wonderful time. And I’ll definitely be at your school tomorrow,” I added. “I promise.”

  The next afternoon there wasn’t a parking space to be found in the school parking lot, so I ended up having to park almost two blocks away. It wasn’t far, I noticed, from where Officer J. Walsh had given me the ticket.

  As I locked the car and hurried toward the school, my heartbeat quickened as I wondered if I’d see Officer J. Walsh at the open house. I’d heard the regret in his voice when he told me that he’d missed it. He obviously cared very much for his daughter.

  And I’m sure that he cares just as much for his wife and the ten other kids he probably has at home, I thought. Just because he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t married.

  I felt drawn to him, so what? Had he given me any indication that he was feeling the same thing? Had he looked at me in any way that told me that he felt sparks between us? I realized that I was acting more like a teenager with a secret crush than a grown woman with a seven-year-old daughter.

  Still, when I walked into Shannon’s classroom, my eyes seemed to have a will of their own. They searched around the room for a tall, blue-eyed policeman, and my heart sank a little when I saw that all the other parents there
were moms.

  “Mommy!” Shannon flew across the room and into my arms. “I’ve been waiting for you. Come meet my teacher.”

  “With pleasure,” I said as she slipped her hand into mine and tugged me toward the teacher’s desk. After she introduced me to Mrs. Phillips, we took a tour of the room to look at the pictures the kids had drawn. “I’m very impressed, honey. You’ve all done a great job on your pictures.”

  “This one is Lizzie’s,” Shannon said. “She’s not here right now.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I would have liked to meet her.”

  “She’ll be back. She had to go to the doctor,” Shannon explained. “She has asthma and she needs stronger medicine.”

  “I see,” I said, feeling sad just thinking about a child having to struggle to breathe. I offered up a thank you to God for blessing my daughter with such good health.

  “Her mom took her,” Shannon said. “But she’ll be back.”

  “Children, if your parents are here and they’re ready to leave, you may go with them,” Mrs. Phillips said. “Parents, thank you so much for coming today. I’ve enjoyed meeting each of you.”

  “Are you ready, Mommy?”

  I nodded. “I’m really glad that I had the chance to be here.”

  “Me, too,” Shannon said as we walked out of the school. “What time are we leaving tomorrow?

  “Tomorrow? Did we have something planned for tomorrow? Oh, that’s right, grocery shopping, laundry—”

  “Mommy!” Shannon said, giggling. “You know we’re going to the zoo.”

  “I remember,” I assured her, squeezing her hand. “In fact, I thought we might leave early and make a day of it. Do you remember the monorail ride we took last time? We had so much fun and—”

  “What’s that?” she interrupted.

  “What’s what, honey?”

  Shannon was pointing to a piece of yellow paper that had been slipped under the windshield wipers of my car. I stopped short when I realized what it was: a parking ticket.

  “I don’t understand,” I said with a groan. “I parked in a one-hour space and I know that I wasn’t in the school for longer than that.”

  “Did you put money in the meter?” she asked.

  Closing my eyes, I reached up and smacked the palm of my hand against the side of my head. I’d been in such a hurry to get to Shannon’s classroom that I’d forgotten to slip a coin into the meter.

  “Another ticket? What are we going to do about this? It seems you’re a repeat offender.”

  My eyes flew open and I saw Officer Walsh walking toward us. He was out of uniform and dressed in khaki slacks and a pale blue shirt that made his blue eyes seem even more striking.

  “Lizzie!” Shannon darted away from me to run to the little girl who walked beside Officer Walsh. “Did the shot hurt? Did you get a sucker? Where’s your mom?”

  “So, what do you have to say for yourself?” Officer Walsh asked me.

  I couldn’t help the sheepish smile that touched my lips. “It doesn’t look good for me, does it? How many of these things am I allowed before they haul me away and lock me up?”

  A grin spread across his face. “Maybe I can soften the blow a little.”

  “Soften the blow?” I repeated. I felt the smile slip from my face as I wondered what in the world that meant. Had I totally misread this guy? Was he really just another jerk who was offering to get a couple of tickets dismissed in exchange for a couple of favors? I narrowed my eyes in suspicion as I looked up at him. “Just what do you mean by that?”

  He stared back at me for a moment. Then he threw back his head and laughed. “Actually, I was hoping that the two of you would go with the two of us to get some ice cream.”

  The girls heard and both exclaimed, “Ice cream! Yes!”

  “Can we, Mommy?” Shannon asked. “Please?”

  I hesitated, looking around for any sign of Officer Walsh’s wife. I didn’t see her. Still, I knew that she was around somewhere. Hadn’t Shannon said that Lizzie’s mom had taken her to the doctor?

  “I’m sorry,” I said at last. “I don’t eat ice cream with married men.”

  He grinned with amusement. “I’m relieved to hear that! And since I no longer fit into that category, would you consider having ice cream with a single dad and his daughter?”

  I felt a blush steal into my face. “I’m sorry. I just assumed—”

  “So, what do you say? I’ll just take a few minutes to go in and meet Lizzie’s teacher, and then we’ll go?”

  I tilted my head to one side and looked up at Officer Walsh. “On one condition.”

  “Oh, no.” He groaned. “Let me guess: You’re a control freak and you want to pay. Or you’re going to insist that we eat non-fat ice cream that tastes like sawdust. Or—”

  “None of the above,” I broke in, laughing.

  “Thank goodness! Then what’s the condition?”

  “If we’re all going to have ice cream together,” I said, “I can’t very well keep calling you Officer Walsh. I’d like to know what the “J” stands for.”

  With a smile, he extended his hand to me. “It stands for John. And you’re Kelly.”

  My hand slid into his. “Of course; you already know all there is to know about me.”

  “Not yet,” he said. His eyes were gentle and attentive. “But I’m hoping to.”

  I felt Shannon tug on my arm. “Mommy? Maybe they could go to the zoo with us tomorrow. What do you think?”

  “Well, Shannon, I’m not sure—”

  The girls were bouncing up and down with anticipation. John and I looked at them and then at each other.

  “How can we disappoint them?” he asked.

  I couldn’t do anything but return his smile and agree.

  Six months later, we joined our families together at an early spring wedding. God had graciously answered my prayers. He sent me a wonderful husband who adores me, and cares about my happiness. He’s also an unselfish and sweet-natured dad who keeps us all laughing and, well—the list goes on.

  My new stepdaughter is a sweet and affectionate child who has completely captured my heart. She and Shannon were so excited when John and I decided to get married. Now, they are both eagerly awaiting the birth of their little brother, who is due to join our family in a couple of months.

  Our life is filled with joy, laughter, and so much love. I feel truly blessed. And to think that God used a traffic ticket to make it all happen! Who said He doesn’t have a sense of humor? THE END

  Joker’s Wild!

  AN APRIL FOOL

  Who’s laughing now?

  “I think it’s going to be tonight,” I told my sister over the phone. “We’re going to that new French restaurant, and Gary made a big deal about how fancy it was and how we needed to dress up and everything.”

  “So you think he’s ready to make a commitment?” Donna asked. “You’ve been waiting five years.”

  “I think he’s ready,” I told her. “I know he’s ready. How can he not be ready?”

  I wore a new outfit—a forest green sheath dress that I’d found on sale nearly a month earlier and hadn’t yet had occasion to wear, new black pumps, and a gold braided necklace Gary had given me when we were first dating. I visited my favorite hair salon that afternoon and had my highlights touched up. Then, I had a free makeover at the cosmetics counter of my favorite department store.

  When Gary arrived to pick me up for our date, I was practically glowing because of what I thought was likely to happen that evening. I looked beautiful and radiant, but Gary didn’t even seem to notice.

  I just figured that he was nervous, and I wondered if his insides were as twisted up as mine. Then, I saw an odd bulge in his jacket pocket—a bulge about the size of a ring box. I did my best to keep from smiling.

  When we arrived at the restaurant, several of Gary’s friends were already there, surprising me. I had expected an intimate dinner alone, but Ed and Jill were there along with Fred, his w
ife Bonnie, and three of Gary’s unmarried friends—Bill, Chuck, and Dave.

  Any hope of a special, intimate dinner together disappeared, but I didn’t let the presence of Gary’s friends bother me. Gary was the kind of guy who liked to do things in a public way, always showing off in front of the people he knew and making sure they all knew how good he had it.

  Everybody laughed and joked throughout the meal, putting each other down with a number of barbed comments—that was the way Gary’s friends were. If you put on a few pounds, they’d tease you about getting fat. If you gained a new gray hair, they teased you about getting old. If you mispronounced a word—like the time I ordered snails in a French restaurant, but pronounced the word as “ess-car-got”—they reminded you of it every chance they could.

  Only Bill commented on my dress. Bill sat on my left and he leaned over during the meal and asked, “Is that a new dress?”

  I told him it was.

  “It looks good,” he said. “Did you change your hair?”

  “Not really,” I told him. “I refreshed the highlights, that’s all.”

  “It looks good.”

  Before either of us could say anything else, Fred interrupted everybody to tell a crude joke about a penguin who takes his car in for service. Everybody laughed except for me and Bill, and I noticed that Bill glanced at me when Fred told the punch line.

  I waited patiently throughout the meal, but I grew nervous as we worked our way through dessert. If Gary didn’t ask me soon, I thought I might burst.

  Finally, after the waiter had served coffee and after-dinner drinks to everyone, Gary stood and tapped his knife on his water glass. As soon as he had everyone’s attention, Gary turned to me.

  “Carol,” he said. “I wanted this to be a special night, one that you would remember forever, and so I’ve asked all of these people here to witness this.”

  Gary lowered himself onto one knee and took my left hand in his left hand. He reached into his jacket pocket and removed a black velvet ring box.

  “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” I said under my breath. I think I began to shake.

  “Carol,” he said, “you mean so much to me and I just want you to know how important you are. I told you to expect something special tonight, and I know you’ve been waiting a long time for this moment.”