A Relationship...Or Something Like It

by Greene, Caroline

Your Friend,

  Abigail

  I am starting to get excited for a new life and a future after graduation. Dad is right: I have a lot of things to look forward to, and I need to focus on that. For now, I will continue not to date unless someone is worth it and hope that it falls into place for me someday. For now, I will be living in a beautiful climate, and I will have a great job, and I will let that be enough for now.

  Chapter 32: Part 2-Florida

  I have been living in Florida for two months now. When I first moved down to Florida, I lived with my grandma in the spare bedroom of her condo and after work was filled with Early Bird Specials and Bingo. It was a relaxing, stress free life. Unlike mom, grandma did not push for me to go on dates, but she did seem concerned that I did not have anybody, man or woman, to hang out with who was my own age. I did try calling Jennifer the first week I was here, but she just said she had to check her schedule. I gave her grandma’s phone number and when she did not call back I just let it go as I still felt awkward around her and her family given what happened with Kyle. Every day, I tried not to think much about how close by he was living and what he was doing.

  I did eventually share with mom what really happened between Kyle and me. To her credit, she did not say “I told you so” and listened with sympathy. But when I talked about my move all I said was

  “I wonder if I should…”

  Mom interrupts me before I could finish my sentence with, “Don’t you dare call or write to him! You don’t need him,” knowing exactly what I was thinking.

  One week after I moved into grandma’s condo, I started my job at The Sun Sentinel. As a graduation gift, mom and dad bought me a reliable used car which I used to travel between work and Grandma’s. It was only a 10 minute ride to the paper, and I enjoyed looking at palm trees and stucco buildings during my commute. The work at the paper was easy, if a little bit boring. I mainly just went over other people’s work for errors and worked all the articles and advertisements into a layout for print. After a few weeks at work, I got to know Miranda, the proofreader whose desk was next to mine. She was friendly from the very beginning, and we often had lunch together and, at 24, we are very close in age.

  It turned out that Miranda had a room in a rental house that she shared with four other women, some she’d known since high school, others through friends of friends. One day, she mentioned that one of her roommates decided to move in with her boyfriend, and they were looking for somebody else to take her room. I immediately tell her that I am interested. As glad as I am to spend time with my grandma, living there is getting a little bit boring. I think Miranda is nice, and I look forward to getting to know her and my other roommates. She is excited.

  “We are a friendly bunch. We often go out together. I think it’s a great idea, and you’ll fit right in. Let’s go over after work tonight, and you can check things out. Susan’s boyfriend has a truck, and I’m sure he can help you move your things.”

  We go over to the house after work. It is a nice sized home with a charming stucco roof and five bedrooms. It has a workable kitchen, but Cara, one of the other roommates warns me,

  “Be careful of the Rodriguez family.”

  Miranda interrupts. “Cara, don’t scare a potential roommate away! The Rodriguez’s are our cockroach family. Standard for Florida living!”

  I meet the other roommates who seem just as nice as Miranda. There is Cara, a law student and one of Miranda’s closest friends since Kindergarten, and Jessica, who is in law school with Cara. Jessica looks me up and down.

  “Abigail Wiseman,” she exclaims with excitement. “You’re Jewish right?”

  At my nod, she continues. “Good! I have someone to go to those boring Hillel House events with now. They are open to the community.” She pauses, “Are you single?”

  I nod and say, “But that is a story for another time.”

  They all laugh, and Miranda moves on with the introductions. Finally, there is Kathryn, a paralegal who works at the law firm where Jessica interned over the summer. Their soon to be former roommate Susan (also a close friend of Miranda and Cara’s from high school) and her boyfriend Rick are also hanging around. Miranda turns to me.

  “So Abigail what do you think?”

  She goes over the details of the rent, cleaning schedules, and other house rules they have established so that everyone gets along.

  “I’ll take it!”

  Rick offers to move my stuff out of grandma’s condo and her storage unit after he moves Susan into his place. I thank him and smile, happy that everything is falling into place.

  “So,” Jessica says conversationally. “What brought you down to Florida?”

  I wonder how much to tell them and if these women will think I am a fool. I decide if we are going to be roommates, and hopefully friends, I need to start out with being honest.

  “When I applied for the job at the Sun Sentinel, I was dating somebody and I thought it could turn into more. I had met him at my summer job and although he wanted to keep things casual, I developed some pretty intense feelings. I thought he was feeling the same but wanted to take things slow, but I guess not because the last I heard he is dating somebody else.”

  Cara chimed in, “Well, that sucks. But there are plenty of eligible men out there.”

  Miranda adds, “Yeah, I was dumped last year by my long time high school boyfriend. I guess my Catholic upbringing didn’t fit in with his libido. When I wouldn’t sleep with him, he found someone who did.”

  Susan laughed. “Miranda, you know Rick’s friend Wally likes you and, sorry Rick,” she glances his way with a smile. “He’s hot!”

  Kathryn grins. “My boyfriend’s roommate is Jewish. I have been trying to set him up with Jessica, but she says she doesn’t do blind dates. Maybe you’d be interested? Adam is a nice guy.”

  I reply, “I am the blind date queen I have gone on so many. My mom has more friends of friends than I can count. After the whole disaster with Kyle, I have decided to take a break from dating but maybe someday you could introduce us.”

  Jessica laughs. “Oh yeah! The Jewish Geography Network, the tool of every mother out there. Believe me, if I would let her, she would have a million blind dates set up for me. Maybe you can come home with me to Boston and let my mother do some matchmaking for you! I decided a long time ago that if something is going to happen, I can do this on my own and not force anything.”

  Moving into this house, I think, will be just what I need to have some fun in my new life and to move on. I am glad I listened to my dad and gave Florida a chance. We agree on a move out date for Susan and a move-in day for me. Things are going to work out here just fine.

  Chapter 33: New Life, New Friends, Old Heartbreak

  I am enjoying living in the rental house with Kathryn, Jessica, Miranda, and Cara very much. Kathryn has a boyfriend, Evan, and she hangs out at his place a lot. I have a feeling that soon he is going to ask her to move in with him. Jessica, Miranda, and Cara are single, and we often go to bars in South Beach and Coconut Grove to go dancing. We also are friends with six men who rent a house two doors down. They are a fun bunch and play as hard as they work. Like us, they are a mixed group of graduate students and young working professionals. They often join us when we go dancing though Mason, an architecture graduate student, designed and built a bar that fits in their living room, so we spend a lot of our spare time over there sitting at their bar watching television.

  One night after work, I am sitting on the couch watching a movie that I had rented. Jessica walks in and asks,

  “What are you doing tonight? There is a mixer at Hillel House. Do you want to come?”

  I think about it and decide that I have nothing better to do.

  “Sure, why not?”

  I know that despite Jessica’s casual attitude, she would like to meet someone special and so would I. I am sick in wallowing in the aftermath of Kyle and if I don’t meet anyone, I can never find that perfect someone who I feel passion for
and wants a committed relationship.

  The college campus Hillel House is bright and cheery. There is mainly a mix of business, medical, and law students and an occasional young professional living in the community. Jessica and I wander over to a table, and we each grab a glass of wine. David, apparently a fellow law student, spots Jessica immediately and strikes up a conversation with her. It is obvious that he likes her, so I wander away to give them space.

  Feeling shy, I merely stand and people watch. No one seems to notice me, so I look around for someone to have a conversation with.

  “Hello,” a man approaches me. He is of average height with brown hair and brown eyes. “You’re new.”

  I answer, “Yes, I am. I just started working at the Sun Sentinel five months ago.”

  I gesture at Jessica who is still deep in conversation with David.

  “I came with my roommate who is a law student.”

  He answers, “I’m Andrew Shafer. I am the graduate student activities director here.”

  We have a very pleasant conversation about how I like Florida, my job, as well as his hobbies and interests when he is not planning Hillel graduate student activities. It turns out he is going to school to get his MBA, and he grew up in a Miami suburb. He seems very pleasant, and I am glad to have someone to talk to, but I don’t know if I am that attracted to him. Andrew might just be friendly because of his job to make me feel welcome. I decide that if he asks, I will give him my number. It might be better that I am not wildly attracted, less room for heartbreak and disappointment. After a half an hour or so of conversation, Andrew shakes my hand and says it was very nice meeting me and hopes I come to more events. And that is that.

  I sit in a corner for the rest of the evening sipping my wine. Finally, Jessica comes over with a grin.

  “I have had a mini crush on David for ages! He asked for my number.”

  I am happy for her and tell myself I am not sure I am ready to start dating anyway.

  “That’s great. I can tell he likes you, too.”

  We leave shortly after David does and go home.

  ‘Nothing has changed,’ I think to myself. ‘I am the one who always stands by and watches while everybody else pairs up. At least I didn’t meet anyone who could potentially break my heart.’

  Chapter 34: Opportunities and Trying to Move On

  If my dating life is nothing to write home about, things at work are starting to get interesting. There is a very busy news day and all of the senior reporters are out on assignment. Jack walks over to my desk.

  “How would you like to do a human interest piece on a young gymnast who was selected to be on an elite coaching team?”

  I leap at the chance to do some actual writing!

  “Of course,” I tell Jack.

  I get the details and go over to the girl’s residence. Lucy Brownstein is 7 years old and has been involved in gymnastics since she was 3. She was noticed by an Olympic coach at a local meet, and he decided to take her on as a student. I am tasked to interview her and her widowed father about how she achieved her dream, her family’s support, and what this kind of training will mean. It is a compelling story. Frank, Lucy’s father, has done this mostly on his own when his wife died in a car accident three years ago. His part of the interview touches on his balancing work full time, maintaining a household, and getting his daughter to gymnastic lessons, meets, etc. Both Frank and Lucy are easy subjects, and there are no gaps in the conversation. Frank, with his short, wiry build, reddish blond hair, and twinkling blue-gray eyes looks almost boyish and too young to have a 7 year old. Lucy is very outgoing and speaks about gymnastics with enthusiasm and even shows me the back handspring she has recently perfected. At the end of the interview, I get all the release forms signed, shake their hands, and thank them for a great interview.

  The story prints two days later, and it is exciting to see my name in a byline. My grandma buys lots of papers that week, mails a copy to my parents, and distributes the rest to her Mah Jong group at the condo. My parents call me up and tell me how proud they are of me, and I feel like a real journalist. I hope that this is the first of many stories.

  I am sitting at my desk at work back to the grind of proofreading for now. Jack comes over and congratulates me on a successful first story and promises to fill me in on future opportunities. The phone on my desk rings.

  “Sun Sentinel, this is Abigail Wiseman!”

  There is a pause and then I hear,

  “Hello, Ms. Wiseman. This is Frank Brownstein, Lucy’s father. I just wanted to thank you for a great article. It was very well written.”

  I am flattered by the call.

  “Thank you very much,” I say professionally. “I am glad that you enjoyed the piece. I enjoyed writing it.”

  There is another long pause.

  “Uh, gosh, I haven’t done this in a long time.”

  I am puzzled and let Frank continue.

  “I hope this isn’t too unprofessional, but I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me sometime? I can get a babysitter, and we can go for coffee.”

  I am totally taken by surprise. I wasn’t thinking of Frank as anything more than somebody who was an interview subject for my job. I decide that I have nothing to lose, and he does seem very pleasant.

  “Alright. Just tell me when. By the way, you can call me Abigail.”

  We go out for coffee the next day. Frank is very nice and has a great sense of humor. We talk a little bit about how he met his wife and how he has been coping since her death.

  “I think Lucy is absolutely adorable and very talented,” I tell him.

  He just beams with pride.

  “She is my joy. Lucy is what has kept me going these last three years.”

  I find out that Frank is 30-years-old and that Juliette was his high school sweetheart.

  “I am not very good at this stuff,” he confesses.

  Everyone he knows has been trying to fix him up with eligible women for the last two years.

  “And now,” he smiles sheepishly, “Lucy is going to be travelling which makes things even more complicated, but I like you.”

  I definitely like Frank as a friend, and it could turn into more, so I tell him,

  “Let’s just take things slow and see where things go.”

  After two hours of great conversation, he walks me to my car door and squeezes my hand. He asks,

  “This was fun. What are you doing this weekend?”

  I smile and let him know that I am free, and we make plans for dinner and a movie on Saturday.

  My roommates are waiting for me when I get home. Miranda asks,

  “So, how was it? I saw his picture in the article you wrote, and he is cute!”

  I tell them that he seems very nice and that there could be potential there. Jessica, who has been dating David since the Hillel mixer, adds,

  “Maybe we can double sometime!”

  The rest of my friends are happy for me that I seem to be moving on. I don’t have that instant chemistry that I did with Kyle, but I like Frank more than I have anyone else in a long time, and that’s a start.

  On Saturday, Frank and I go out to dinner and then to a new romantic comedy. We have a great time talking and laughing. He tells me a little bit about his parents and a lot of stories about Lucy. I tell him about what it was like growing up in Michigan with my parents and my brother. He holds my hand in the movie and puts his arm around me. We discuss the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. I tell him about my plans to spend it with my grandma. Her condo association got discounted tickets to a dinner theater. Not a conventional Thanksgiving, but I am looking forward to spending time with her. He plans to have a quiet dinner with Lucy and his parents. He walks me up to the front door, gives me a peck on the lips, and tells me to have a happy holiday.

  Frank is nice, smart, and funny. He is a good father to Lucy and will be to future children. As ideal as he seems and as much fun as we have when we are together, I feel like something is mi
ssing. I wonder if he plans on calling me again. I wonder if I will care if he doesn’t.

  Chapter 35: Thanksgiving with Grandma

  On Thanksgiving Day I drive to grandma’s condo. We are doing the untraditional this year. Her condo association’s activities committee made a deal with a local dinner theater and got tickets at a discounted rate. They arranged for a charter bus from the condo to the theater. It is a Can-Can revival and a prime rib dinner. As un-Thanksgiving like as it was, it sounded like a meal I would enjoy much more than the traditional turkey and stuffing of which I have never been a fan.

  The senior citizens on the bus were worse than a bunch of 8 year olds. I think Lucy has better behavior and more maturity than this group. These people were bickering over who sat next to whom on the bus and who sat at whose table. It was complete with temper tantrums if they did not get their way. The show, however, was amusing, and the prime rib tender.

  Afterwards, grandma and I go back up to her condo and have a talk. Since starting work and moving out of her condo, I have only had time for an occasional phone call and once I drove up to take her to lunch. I feel bad for being so busy and not spending much time with her. She seems tired and a little bit out of breath, and I offer to make some tea.

  Once she is settled in, she turns to me.

  “Dad tells me that you are enjoying your job and are making friends. What else is new?”

  I tell her about Frank.

  “He and his daughter were the ones featured in that article I wrote.”

  She asks, “The gymnast and her father?”

  I nod. “That’s right. After the article went to print, he asked me out. We went out for coffee and then a few days ago to dinner and a movie.”

  Grandma nods with approval.

  “From his picture in the paper, he seems very handsome. He sounds like a good catch.” She pauses to cough. “So, what do you think of him?”

  After taking a long moment to think, I look at grandma.

  “I know he is all of these things, but I feel like something that should be there isn’t. When I saw Kyle for the first time, I felt alive; like something special was around the corner. Frank, I know, is a lot nicer and he is better looking. I should like him, and he should excite me more than he does.”