Lily White Lies(58)

I asked, “And you say you haven’t met her yet,” and bit down on my lower lip, almost afraid to hear his answer. My anticipation heightened to nerve-racking proportions as the seconds between my question and his answer passed.

“Yes, I have.”

I opened my mouth to ask the question I most wanted to know the answer to, but nothing came out. Several attempts brought several failures—I didn’t have the guts to ask him who it was that had captured his heart so long ago.



I finished my bath in silence and then he helped me back to the couch where we resumed our conversation, this time keeping to less personal and easier-to-answer topics. I learned that we each like the color blue, Chinese take-out, baseball as opposed to football and the old stuff by ‘Skynyrd’. I like romantic comedies and he enjoys action films while neither of us cares for the colors of winter or the Jerry Springer show. Tom Hanks is our favorite actor but ‘Catch Me if You Can’ was a bit disappointing. We each have a tendency to sleep late on an occasional Sunday in lieu of attending church and neither of us cared for any of the candidates in the last election and therefore, did not vote.

With every trivial bit of information he offered, I found myself grasping for more. I wanted to know the important things like, which side of the bed he prefers, does he save for summer vacations or home improvements, and how he’d like his eggs... every morning for the rest of his life.





Seventeen





...This was one of those rare moments in life when, presented with an opportunity to do something so daring, so utterly out of character it would take pictures of the event to convince anyone that I had actually done it, I was going to blow it in the name of good judgment and rational thought, cursing myself for... well... probably forever...





While Con went outside in search of firewood, I sat alone with my thoughts. I couldn’t help but wonder if this weekend was my punishment for the way I handled things with Brian. I had abruptly and awkwardly ended a three year relationship in a matter of minutes because I didn’t want him and now, one day later, I am stranded with the man of my dreams, and I can’t have him. Whoever coined the phrase, ‘it’s a cruel world’, must have found them selves in a very similar situation.

The door had no sooner flung open and hit the wall when I felt the cold draft slice through me. The rain and a drop in temperature had caused a chill in the air that brought goose bumps and sporadic shivers with it.

“This should be enough to get us through the night.” Con’s words sounded strained under the weight of an armload of wood.

As I made my way to the kitchen, I said, “I really thought they would be back for us by now,” and casually glanced in his direction in the hopes of catching his reaction.

“I figure they’ll be back tomorrow sometime. That’ll give us a chance to get to know each other without missing work on Monday.”

Thinking aloud, I said, “I guess their plan is working, I feel like I’ve learned a lot about you today.”

“There’s a lot more if you’re interested.”

I noted the playful tone in his voice and responded in an equally playful tone. “Really?”

Pulling up a stool on the opposite side of the island, he said, “If you promise to take it to your grave, I’ll let you in on one of my more embarrassing moments.”

I eagerly replied, “Okay.”

“Deal is, you’ll have to share one of your most embarrassing moments with me when I’m through... you know, in case you ever tell, I can get even.”

I hesitated only briefly, then smiled and nodded.

“This is a pitiful story, but so help me, it’s true. When I was in grade school, I used to have to trick the girls into kissing me.”

Thinking aloud, I said, “I find that hard to believe.”

He raised his right hand and said, “I swear it’s true.” Slouching into an even more relaxed position on his stool, he continued, “I used to bring my pet frog to school and at recess, we’d all head out to the playground. Everyday I’d pick a different girl and ask her if she’d kiss me.” He picked a piece of tomato from the bowl and ate it before continuing. “Of course, they’d always say no, so then I’d pull out my frog and with the enthusiasm of a charlatan, I’d say, ‘This here is a magic frog. One kiss from a pretty girl and he’ll turn into a charming prince. Who wants to turn this sorry frog into the prince he deserves to be?’ They’d never believe me right off, but I had my grandfather’s gift of gab and I’d always talk them into it.”

“You’re making this up.”