The steaks came to the table still sizzling. And there may or may not have been a bit too many Jack Daniels consumed, which would account for the volume of the conversation taking place. My cousin had disappeared out of my life twenty years ago. He kidnapped his children to keep them away from his drug abusing ex-wife. It seemed the courts, in their infinite wisdom, would return his children to her, no matter how many times she got herself arrested or how many trips to re-hab she made. No one knew where he was except for his Mom, my Aunt. His ex finally, and expectantly, succumbed to her addiction. They found her dead in her apartment, with a needle stuck between her toes. I came to find out that he had gotten a job within his company and moved to Racine, Wisconsin.
So here we were, two cousins, two friends who grew up together, who could pass for brothers, who were in each other's wedding party, laughing and talking loudly, and covering everything that happened to each other in the years. The births, the deaths, the divorces, in my case anyway. You remember this guy? Remember Johnny? Remember Dianne? We sat at the table for over two hours. Two loudmouthed, wise ass, wise cracking, asshole New York guys. We ate, we drank, we drank, and we drank. In the meantime, a large table next to us filled up with women, obviously a women's only night out. Just as obviously, large amounts of alcohol was being consumed at that table also. One of the young ladies, in a alcohol fueled act of courage yelled over to us.
"Not only do you guys talk funny, but perhaps you should lower your voices a little."
Their whole table cracked up laughing at that, the laughter included that maddening fake yell that woman do sometimes. You know the one, you hear it at cheerleading or dance contests or recitals. That sound goes straight to my spine and shrinks it considerably. But I digress, when the laughing died down, an equally alcohol fueled response was launched by me.
"Why don't you guys try shutting the fuck up and mind your own business!"
Not knowing too many Midwesterners, I wondered if I had, perhaps, gone too far. The table full of women erupted in laughter. Loud, spontaneous laughter! They got it! I said to my cousin,
"Hey, they got it!" This was a pleasant surprise. At that point we were invited to join them at their table. An invite we politely turned down. We finished our meal, paid our check and left the dining area and went into the bar for a few nightcaps.
The bar itself was not a terrible looking place, it was long, perhaps 15 stools across the front, it had turn at the end with another four stools. It was an old fashion, dark mahogany wooded barroom. We sat on the short turn, with me at the last position before the turn, and my cousin one stool in. We continued to imbibe and talk, although not really getting drunk. We had been, because of our conversation, spacing out our drinks so that, while fairly lubricated, we were not staggeringly ossified. About forty minutes later the entire "girls night out table" came into the bar, their dinner now over, for some after dinner toasts.
She ended up sitting in the first stool on the long turn, or ninety degrees from me. She smiled when she realized who we were, and let the rest of them know that the two funny "tawkin" guys were in here. Her name was Kay. She was pretty, very pretty. She was younger than I, and very petite. She had blonde hair and green eyes, a perfect combination if there ever was one. Her crew gave it to us pretty good and we accepted it graciously. John and I continued our catching up and they continued their party. Every so often I would turn away from John to pick up my drink, and she would be staring at me. Every time we made eye contact, she smiled. The truth of the matter is I wouldn't know if I was being flirted with or not. But I had a feeling that she was making the attempt. Eventually, she started to get included on our conversation. This continued as her group got smaller and smaller. Two or three at a time, her group shrank, until there was just me, John, and her. Around 2am, my cousin slapped me on the back and said he had to get home. Since I drove him there in my rental I had to drive him home. When I verbalized this, she looked disappointingly at me. Picking up on that cue, I suggested that if she wished to hang out a little longer, and since John only lived a few blocks away, that I'd drop him off and come back. Her face brightened considerably.
"Wow," I thought to myself, "what is she seeing that I'm not?"
I drove my cousin home, and dropped him off. We hugged in the driveway and we agreed to meet tomorrow for another round of lies and Jack. He turned to walk up his driveway and said to me,
"You better watch these Wisconsin girls cuz, they are a lot smarter than you think!"
In our New York tradition I simply told him, "Fuck You, ok?"
We laughed and I got back into the car and drove back to the restaurant. I half expected her to have left, but there she was waiting patiently for me to return. When I took the stool that alongside her, she turned to face me. John was right about one thing, she was smart. She was also hysterically funny. In the two hours that we talked it came to light that she was almost done with her divorce, while I was still in the early stages of mine. I was impressed with her lack of fear of being alone. She had her own business and her thought was she could support herself and her two kids just fine without a husband. All I mentioned was that I had just started the process of divorcing after over 25 years of marriage, but never got into the details of why and how. The early hours and the bartender's nagging hints brought the night to an end. I helped her with her coat, and we walked out into the Wisconsin cold. Our vehicles were on opposite ends of the lot, but mine was closer, so we walked to mine and I started it up and then we walked over to hers. She had her arm through mine to keep from slipping on the ice, but I didn't mind it. We got to her car and I took the keys and opened the door for her reached in and started the car up for her. I felt like a 16 year old at the end of a prom date. Knowing I'm supposed to do something, but not what. Since I'm 6"2" and she proclaimed to be five foot even, she reached up with her face for a kiss. A smooth move, by the way. I took that cue and met her half way. She got in her car and reached in my pocket and pulled my wallet out, I slipped one of my business cards from the bill holder, why would I have money in it, I had been married for 25 years and forgot what it was like to have money, and gave it to her. It had all the pertinent information on it. My office number, my cell number, and even my email address. I closed her door and walked back to the other end of the lot to get my car and drive to Milwaukee, where I had taken a hotel room. It was about 15 miles north of Racine. I made the trip in less than 20 minutes, got to my room and went to sleep.
The weekend ended with, as promised, with another round of dinner, drinks, and then some more drinks. I had a Sunday night flight out of Milwaukee to Florida to see my folks. All went well and I arrived in Florida after midnight Monday morning. The startling variance in the temperatures was staggering. I had left Milwaukee, where it was just above 10 degrees, and arrived in Florida where it was close to 80 with 95 percent humidity.
Wednesday morning, while I was having coffee, I heard my cell phone ringing. The phone was buried in my bag, and by the time I got to it, the ringing stopped. I looked at the number and didn't recognize it. Hell I didn't even recognize the area code. I started to put it down, when it signaled that there was a voice mail left. I opened it and dialed my voice mail and listened to the message. It was Kay. She was just calling to say hi and that she had sent me emails that I hadn't responded to.
I walked out of my folks' place and wandered over to the pool deck , flipped open the phone and hit the redial button.
"Hi!" she said, "I was hoping to hear from you, and I sent you a few emails but you didn't respond so I took the chance of calling your cell phone."
When I heard her voice, I immediately pictured her face in my mind. She sounded her upbeat self. I explained to her that I was in Florida and I wouldn't be back at work until the coming Tuesday. Could it be, with all the talking we did, I failed to mention to her that I was on the way down south from Wisconsin? I mean, it could be, we drank enough to miss a lot of stuff.
"Is there any chance you're coming back up this way anytime soon?" she asked me.
"I'm really not sure, but is there any reason I should try to?"
"Yes there is. You need to come back and see me for a weekend."
"Kay? We had a few hours together, how is it you know how much you need to see me?"
"I'm not sure really. I'm never this forward. I've never met anyone like you before. You intrigued me with your answers, and that attitude of yours...I don't know anyone like you here. "
"Well, you need to come east once in a while, there are a million assholes just like me running around."
She laughed at that. " I can't imagine that at all!"
After a week in Florida, I returned home and went back to work and found the emails she sent. I was impressed immediately by her intelligence and humor. I returned her emails and let her know I was back home and that anytime she felt the need to touch base with an asshole, she could just call me. My cell rang five minutes later. We talked for a while and then hung up with the promise of another call. What happened over the months was an amazing, to me anyway, story. We shared each other's life and disappointments, both with ourselves and with others. We became friends, but much more than just friends. I learned how to communicate via IM. We talked into too many nights and just as many early mornings getting to know each other better and deeper.
After nearly fourteen months it was up to me to make a decision. And I did. I called Kay and told her I'd be out to see her after Thanksgiving and before Christmas. What I didn't tell her was that I drove around all day wondering about what she was doing. How was she feeling, and wondered if I came to mind all that often.
But, as I realized, all that was about to be answered, because come Friday night, I'd be winging my way out to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin to see her again. And then I would find out for sure whether or not I caught lightening in a bottle.
To be continued.....(of course!)
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joeydonuts
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