“Okay, let’s see what you got Kyle,” Sean said as Kyle tossed the baseball, barely making it halfway.
“Okay, that wasn’t bad.”
“That was so bad. I throw like my mom.”
“Hey, I heard that.” I remarked as I watched from the sidelines.
“Your skills far surpass hers.” Sean teased. “When I was your age, I didn’t know how to play either but I practiced and eventually I got better.”
Sean changed his teaching style around and decided to show Kyle how to position his fingers better on the ball and how to angle his arm when he threw.
“Give it a try, Kyle. Watch this, mom, I have got a good feeling about this one.” Sean said to me. Kyle threw the ball and it magically headed straight for Sean.
“Whoa, one lesson and he got it! I am such a great coach!” Sean shouted as Kyle continued to throw him the ball perfectly. “Alright, throw it down the pipe.” Sean instructed and Kyle threw a great pitch again.
After playing for the next half hour or so, Sean decided to take a break and asked Kyle to keep tossing the ball in the air and catching it so he could get used to catching fly balls and not just grounders. Sean walked over to the bench I was sitting on and joined me.
“I can’t thank you enough for this,” I said.
“Are you kidding? I’ve had a very good time. He’s a great kid, and you’re a great mom.” Sean said. “I don’t want to be intrusive, but where is his father?”
“Uh…he left when Kyle was a year old.”
“So he’s not in his life at all?” Sean asked curiously.
“No. It’s his loss and Kyle’s of course.”
“At least it’s good that you’re dating again, right?” Sean said suddenly.
“Yeah….right now I’m kind of stalled in that department.”
“Get out of here, you are a great catch. You deserve a great guy, I’m sure you’ll find him in no time.”
On Monday morning, Sean stopped by the office and snuck up and scared Beth from behind.
“Boo!”
“Sean! You surprised me. What are you doing here?” Beth asked.
“I asked him to stop by so I could take him out for lunch as a thank you for teaching Kyle how to catch. I forgot to mention it to you and see if you could join us.” I answered.
“Oh, that’s so sweet of you but I have a lot of work today. I’ll just order in, you two go on without me and enjoy yourselves.” Beth apologized.
“Are you sure?” Sean asked.
“Yeah, go.”
“Okay alright. We’re still on for tonight, right?” Sean asked.
“Absolutely,” Beth confirmed.
“Alright bye.”
At lunch, Sean took me to the new café that I had been meaning to try. While waiting for our order, Sean had the great idea of playing Five Questions. It was his version of 20 Questions, just not as long. The object of the game, which wasn’t a game at all, was take turns asking each other five questions and then we would switch. Sean went first.
“What’s your favorite dessert?” Sean asked.
“Cheesecake, of course. We talked about that already.”
“Oh, we certainly did. What about your favorite childhood memory.”
“My favorite childhood memory? Oh, that’s a tough one. It would probably have to be, riding bikes with my dad at the beach, really early in the morning. Just the two of us.” I confessed. “Okay, my turn. What is your favorite color?”
“Blue.” Sean answered.
“Favorite moment in the last three months,” I asked.
“That would be at Beth’s singles party. I met a new friend that night.” Sean answered.
“Favorite genre of music.”
“Acoustic.” Sean answered.
“That’s not a genre.”
“It should be.”
“I agree with you there. Favorite sport.”
“Basketball, you know that.” Sean laughed.
The waitress showed up a few minutes later with our order as Sean and I laughed at the jokes he was making. I had never laughed so hard in my life to where tears were flowing and I could hardly breathe. When I had originally ordered a bacon cheeseburger and a basket of fries, it sounded so good to Sean he ordered the exact same thing.
After we finished our meal and as Sean and I were heading back to my office, I started thanking him again for spending time with Kyle and teaching him things that a father normally would do with his son but I was careful not to scare him off with sentiments like that. Sean was far from being Kyle’s father, he belonged to Beth.
“Thanks for boosting his confidence lately. With all of your talking to him about sports and Water Zone, he’s going to want to call you again to come over and play.”
“That’s okay, I love hanging out with him. I was thinking we can move onto basketball. That’s if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” I said as we ran into Luke and Beth as they came out of the building.
“Oh, hi guys. We were just going to head out for a quick lunch,” Beth confessed quickly.
“I thought you had a lot of things you needed to take care of?” Sean asked.
“Well, you know what they say. All work and no play makes her no fun for Sean.” Luke joked.
“We can’t have that now can we,” Beth said uncomfortably.
“Yeah, I guess we can’t have that.” Sean said confused and appalled at the situation. “Uh, well bye Bridgette and see you soon, Beth?” Sean asked.
“Yeah, I’ll call you.” Beth peeped out a reply. I could tell she was humiliated. What was she thinking hanging out with Luke after she told Sean she couldn’t join us for lunch?
I was feeling nostalgic and lonely that night. Hanging out with Sean was always fun but at the same time it was depressing because I knew it came with limitations. I was envious of what Beth had and she was acting like she wasn’t even appreciating it. What I wouldn’t kill to date someone who had Sean’s qualities?
I opened up my laptop and read our old emails again. I hadn’t written S in a long time. I wondered what he was up to. Without thinking, I started drafting an email:
SUBJECT: Why I am a Complete Loser
BODY: Remember me?
“Ugh. Don’t do this to yourself, Bridgette.” I said to myself. I hesitated and went back and forth in my mind on whether or not I should send the email. In the end, I clicked Send.
Chapter Nine
SEAN
I CALLED PATRICK EARLY IN THE MORNING the following weekend and he was still asleep when he answered the phone. I had asked him to meet me at the bench in Grand Park we always sat at during lunch time where we always rated our lunches as well as the women that passed by.
“This better be good for an early in the morning, weekend wake-up call,” Patrick said when he arrived at the bench where I had been sitting for the past hour with my dog, Corey.
“Guess who I received an email from?” I said.
“I don’t know.” Patrick shrugged.
“B.”
“Beth? That was your big Saturday emergency?”
“I never gave Beth my email, for obvious reasons so it’s kind of weird that ‘B’ would email me all of a sudden. She stopped emailing me ever since she spilled her drink on me at the bar.”
“Why did she email you?” Patrick asked.
“I don’t know, she just emailed me to say hello. I don’t know if she ended it with ‘email’ me because she was completely into the ‘real’ me and now she contacts the ‘email’ me out of blue.”
“Ha! She’s cheating on you with you.” Patrick laughed hysterically.
“It’s not that funny.”
“It kind of is funny. Why, what happened?” Patrick asked.
“Nothing happened. We just had a minor argument recently. It certainly wasn’t a deal breaker.” I said. Maybe I was kidding myself.
“Maybe not to you. Look, you have to arrange a meeting with B and nip it in the bud before you lose he
r entirely.” Patrick urged.
“Maybe you’re right.” I shrugged. I didn’t know what I was going to do, this whole thing was spiraling out of control.
That night, I was unable to sleep so I decided to reply to B’s email and I asked her if we could meet in person like Patrick suggested I do:
S: B, it’s great to hear from you. I think it’s time for us to meet in person. Please say yes.
After clicking send, he gets a response right away:
B: Okay, let’s do it. How about 1:00 pm at the new café at the outdoor marketplace on 5th.
“So you guys don’t think I’m crazy?” I asked Monica and Beth at work the following morning.
“You’re meeting him in a crowded place in broad daylight. It’ll be fine.” Beth said.
“If he looks at all crazy, then you scream,” Monica suggested.
“You know it’s crazy to think that you still don’t know what he looks like, let alone his name.” Beth mulled over the thought.
“Well, none of us wanted to send photos of ourselves to each other,” I said.
“What the heck…I’ll go with you. I want to see this guy.” Beth suggested.
That afternoon, Beth went with me to the new café at the outdoor marketplace to meet my secret admirer. I was both excited and nervous to meet him because although I knew he definitely had the write personality and sense of humor, I had no idea if I would be attracted to him physically.
“So, what’s your mental picture of him,” Beth asked as we walked to the café.
“I don’t know, I’ve never really had a clear image in mind. I hope that he’s at least tall, a little scruffy with kind, soulful eyes. Oh, I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.” I said nervously.
“If he’s half as great as he seemed to be, you should have definitely met him a long time ago.” Beth said as we arrived at the café.
“Oh, what if he’s here right now? I don’t want him to think you’re my bodyguard or anything.” I panicked.
“Well how about I just casually walk over to the boutique and then casually sit close by. If it gets uncomfortable, sneeze twice, and I will call your cell phone with a fake emergency.” Beth hugged me goodbye. “Good luck.” She squealed.
****
SEAN
I ended up leaving the office later than I anticipated and I didn’t want her to think that I ‘stood her up’ and I was anxious to see what her reaction would be when she finally realizes that ‘S’ is actually me. I didn’t know if she would be happy or thrilled.
It took a while and I finally got to the market place a few minutes after the suggested time and I ran to where the café’ was. I noticed Beth was standing near the entrance of the boutique that was next door to the café. I was surprised to see her there as I told her we were meeting at the café.
Was she spying from ‘afar’ so that she could see what S would look like? If S turned out to be someone she wasn’t attracted to, was she the kind of person that would just stand him up. She couldn’t be that kind of person. She was too down-to-earth and nice to do something like that. I approached Beth cautiously.
“B. Johson?” I whispered.
Beth turned around and was surprised to see me, “Sean what are you doing here?”
“B. Johnson, it’s me Sean. I’m ‘S’.” I explained. Beth looked confused at first and then a realization dawned on her.
“Wait, it’s you?” She asked.
“Sean? It’s you?” Beth said confused.
“Yes, it’s me. Sean.” I said as I pulled Beth into my embrace and kissed her deeply on the lips.
“What brought that on?” Beth asked when I finally let her go.
“It’s the sum of all of our experience online. You know, I feel like this was the first time I kissed the real ‘B. Johnson’. I thought you were going to be at the tables. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Beth looked like she was in a daze but I was glad that the truth was finally out and we could move on with our actual lives.
“It’s just the picture coming clear huh?” I asked.
“Yeah, you can say that.” Beth responded quietly.
“You really didn’t know?” I laughed.
Beth told me that she wasn’t feeling quite herself and I took her to my office nearby and had her sit at my desk.
“Here you go, I made you a green tea but be careful, it’s kind of hot. I also ordered lunch.” I said.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” I smiled. I was completely happy that this whole mess had finally come to fruition.
“Sean, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, you can ask me anything.”
“How did you get my email address?”
“I don’t know if you remembered me back then but I overheard you giving it to Allison and I wrote it down. I know that it sounds crazy and I know it was completely wrong of me to do, but I don’t regret it because we got to meet each other. Beth, when I first saw you in the park, I was taken. Your blonde hair and yellow sundress were just flowing in the wind. To me, you looked like and angel.” I explained.
“Sean, there’s something I need to tell you.”
The phone rang and interrupted our conversation. When I answered it, the reception notified me that the package that I had been waiting for finally arrived and I had to downstairs and sign for it personally or the carrier wouldn’t release the package.
“I’ll be right back, I have to go downstairs and sign for the package I’ve been waiting for. It’ll only take five minutes, I’ll be right back. Keep drinking the green tea, you’re looking better already.” I said and I kissed her on the forehead before running downstairs.
****
BRIDGETTE
“Beth, where have you been?” I asked as it had been an hour since I lost saw her when we walked to the café.
“Oh, Vince had some questions. So how did it go?”
“He stood me up but then when I got back to the office I had an email from him.” I explained.
“What did it say?” Beth asked.
“It said: B, I’m sorry that I didn’t show up today. I know it was wrong and I apologize if I hurt you but I realized today that all we had was a fantasy. It was foolish to think that it could have ever matched what we would find in reality with someone else. Please know that you will always live in my heart and know that no one can take away the joy we shared. I’m sorry, S.” I read. “That’s it. I have a feeling that’s the last time I’ll ever hear from him.”
“I’m sorry.” Beth said as Monica put an arm around me.
“It’s okay, he had a warm heart but cold feet.” I said and showed Beth the printed email.
“I’m so sorry.” Beth apologized.
“It’s not your fault. You know, even though I didn’t meet him. I really felt like I knew him because we talked about so many personal things. I’d like to think at least that part was real.”
“Ladies, impromptu meeting in the conference room.” Luke popped his head in the breakroom.
Monica, Beth and I were surprised about the sudden meeting but Monica quickly found out that it was a going away celebration for her as well as an announcement of Monica’s replacement. The three of us were rooting for me to take over as Director of Marketing and Monica kept putting in a good word for me with Vince.
“I wanted to let all of you know that Monica is leaving us for the windy side of Chicago next week and we wanted to make sure that before you head on to the Windy City that you take this gift with you.” Vince said as he handed Monica an oversized gift bag. It turned out to be a thick winter coat.
“Thank you everyone.” Monica blushed.
“I also wanted to give a shout out to Monica’s replacement and despite the talented group of people who applied from the outside, I decided to promote from within these walls. So put your hands together for our new Director of Marketing, Luke Burke.”
“Beth, Monica and I were speechless while the rest of the office cheer
ed and high fived Luke. I can’t believe it. Despite Monica putting a good word for me, he still went with someone else. Vince knew I deserved that promotion.
“Vince is such an idiot and he doesn’t deserve you. You deserve so much better than how he’s treated you all of these years.” Monica consoled me in her office after the meeting. “Hey, I was going to wait until later but Maddison Hotels said that I could bring someone in to help run my office and I want you to take it.”
“In Chicago?” I asked.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s very cold there but if you are up to the challenge, I want you to take it. Please sleep on it and get back to me, okay?” Monica hugged me goodbye.
I ran into Beth at the end of the work day and I really didn’t feel like talking to anyone. I just wanted to go home and have a good cry.
“Hey Beth, still working?”
“Yeah.”
“Trying to impress your new boss?”
“You should have gotten the job,” Beth said.
“No, it’s okay. It’s actually quite refreshing not getting what your heart is set on twice in one day. It kind of frees me from all expectation.” I said a little teary eyed.
“Listen, Bridgette, about the internet guy…”
“No, the last thing I want to do is talk about that man.”
“Bridgette…”
“I refuse to dedicate one more minute on him. But I will say this, I got to him that much I know.”
Sean gave me a call a few days later and wanted to know if Kyle and I wanted to meet up with him at the park again so he could teach Kyle how to play basketball. I took him up on his offer because I could use a friendly face.
After spending an hour teaching Kyle how to shoot the ball into the basket, Sean told Kyle to keep practicing while he took a break. Sean joined me on the bench where I watched them. He looked worn out but I was grateful for the time he spent with Kyle. Kyle was already attached to Sean.
“He’s going to really miss it here when we leave,” I said suddenly.
“What are you talking about?”
“I might take that job offer in Chicago.”
Break Away Page 40