Blind Squirrels (28 page)

“When did you meet Ben?” I asked Laura.

“We’ve known each other for a
while.  We met right here – at this table.  I was sitting here, and he joined
me.  He said this was his favorite table and I would just have to share it. 
He’s so cute and funny.  How do you know Ben?”

I knew from the look on her face
that she felt something for Ben.  She was in for the shock of her life.  “He’s
my...”

“Has the waitress been by?”  Ben
interrupted me.  It almost seemed that he’d done it on purpose.

“No,” Laura said.  When she looked
in Ben’s face, her eyes glowed like two bright little stars.

“Tell Laura how we know each
other, Ben.”  She needed to know.  And if she and Ben had something going on, I
needed to know.

“We met in college,” he said
simply.  “A long time ago.  Back when I was reckless and carefree.”

“You were reckless and carefree?”
Laura asked.  “That must have been long ago.  You’re so stable and down to
earth now.  I can’t imagine you as reckless.”

Ben laughed.  “Just wait until
you’ve known me awhile.  I’m not as steadfast as you might think.  Right, Kat?”

“Don’t let him fool you, Laura. 
He comes from a long line of dependable, unwavering, stalwart men – and women. 
You should meet his parents.  He’s falling right into his father’s footsteps.” 
I had to let Laura know how well Ben and I knew each other.  I was beginning to
believe that Ben planned to tell her that I was his wife sometime during the
night.  I wanted the truth out right now.

“You’ve met Ben’s parents?”  The
surprise showed on her face.  Turning to Ben she said, “Don’t they live in
Ohio?”

Before Ben could lead her down
another wrong turn, I jumped in.  “Yes, they do.  They have a lovely home in
Upper Arlington.”

Ben interrupted.  “My parents do
visit from time to time.”

He fell right into my clutches. 
“Yes, Ben, and the first time I met them was at our wedding.”

 Ben had a defeated expression on
his face.  Laura’s expression was somewhat harder to describe.  I was certain
that I was beaming a look of triumph, but I quickly put on a mock look of
dismay.

“You really didn’t know, did
you?” I said to Laura with feigned sympathy.  “Ben, you never told Laura that
you have a wife?”

Neither of them spoke, but the
look they exchanged told me all I needed to know.  They were lovers, and they
were in love with each other. 

For one brief second, I felt the
wind leave my sails.  My marriage was over except for the formal decree.  I had
lost my husband to a woman that had once been my best friend.  The second
passed and I realized that I didn’t need the wind.  I had control of the oars,
and I could go anywhere I wanted to go.  Laura had in fact done me a favor.  I
stood up and turned to leave – eager to see where life would lead me.

Ben stood up, too. 
“Where...where do you think you’re going?  We need to talk.”

“No, Ben.  This is one time that
we do not need to talk.  We’ve said quite enough already.  I’ll leave you to Laura. 
My lawyer will be in touch.”

“Kat, wait.”  It was Laura.  “I
want you to know – I thought Ben was single.  Well, maybe I didn’t.  But I
didn’t know he was married to you.  I’m...I’m sorry.”

I walked away from the table and
never looked back.  It was the last time I saw Laura or Ben.  I assumed that they
moved away together to Ohio or some place.  The lawyers handled our divorce,
and I quickly put the past behind me.

I had been living with my parents
during the divorce and still commuting to Mobile.  My dad was getting sicker,
my mother was getting more annoying, and the long drives were getting
tiresome.  I knew it was time for a change.  I took a day off work, picked up a
copy of the want-ads, and started looking for something new.  Within the next
few weeks, I moved into my own apartment and found a new job at Bigelow
Imports.

Around this time, Olivia and I
reestablished our friendship.  While married to Ben, I’d been reluctant to call
Olivia.  As far as I knew, she hadn’t had a serious relationship since Chris,
and I didn’t want to shove Ben down her throat.  Now that Ben was history,
calling her didn’t seem so unnatural.  Of course, Olivia had avoided me, too. 
She had her life to live, and she was busy living it.  Still, I needed to have Olivia
in my life, and luckily she wanted me in hers as well.

As it happened, Olivia had been
in a very serious relationship with a man named Rusty.  Until just recently,
Rusty and Olivia had been living together in a small rented house in east Foster’s
Bank.  She had been going to college part-time, but quit because they were
planning to get married and have a house full of kids.  Then Rusty got a call
from his ex-wife in Texas.  She had just found out that she had breast cancer,
and the doctors said she might not live another six months.  She realized she
still loved Rusty, and she just wanted him to know.  In less than a week, Rusty
was in Texas, and Olivia was back at her mom’s house.  Apparently, Rusty still
loved his ex-wife, too.

Olivia took the whole thing like
a trooper, but she told me that she was through with men – at least for a
while.  She was determined to concentrate on her career and possibly go back to
college sometime in the future.  She was now working in the office of an
accounting firm, but she dreamed of one day being a lawyer.  Losing Rusty had
given Olivia a new determination in life, and I knew she was going to
accomplish her dreams one day.  Not only would she become a lawyer, she would
also have that husband and all the kids she wanted.  It was just going to take
some time.

I also threw myself into my work
and put men aside for the time being.  I did develop a small crush on Brad
Hanover, my new colleague and mentor, but it was over in less time than it
takes to say “I do.”  After all, Brad married anyone at the drop of a hat, and,
besides that, he was more than ten years older than me.  Brad taught me almost
everything he knew about programming, and I helped him get over three
ex-wives.  Somewhere along the way we became great friends.

Max was always in my thoughts.  I
kept quiet about this with Olivia.  She had never wholeheartedly jumped on the
Max bandwagon to begin with, and she would be unhappy to discover that he was
still hanging around – gathering dust inside my head.  Brad was different.  I
told him all about Max.  Not all at once, but in little portions here and
there.  He always listened intently – even if he’d heard the story before. 
Sometimes I felt as if Max was really a part of my life when I talked about
him.  At other times, I depressed myself by mentioning him so much.

Sometime after I moved out of my
parent’s house, my dad started having a terrible time with his health.  He spent
several months – from January until May – in the hospital.  I tried to spend as
much time as possible with him.  I spent many nights reading him to sleep since
he was often too sick to sit up and hold a book.  When he returned home, I
visited less, but I called him often.  In August of that year, he passed away. 
I was at work when my mother called.  For months after, I kept telling myself
that I should have spent more time with him.  But life goes on, and I had to
forgive myself.  I knew that Daddy had forgiven me long ago.

Four years after my divorce from
Ben, I found out that Max had married.  It was at my ten year high school
reunion.  I ran into – of all people – Mason Pearson, Max’s old neighbor and my
old nemesis.  Of course, Mason couldn’t wait to tell me that Max had married
about three or four years earlier.  I tried to act unconcerned, but I’m not
sure I carried it off.  Mason soon found someone else to harass, and I stayed
away from him for the rest of the evening.

Other than the Mason incident, I
rather enjoyed my reunion.  Bill Fine was there, and he’d changed a lot since
high school.  Thankfully he addressed me as Katrina instead of that annoying
nickname Kitty-Kat.  He looked older, but he was still the class clown.  Diane
Griffin showed up with her Navy husband – quiet, shy, and bespectacled just
like Diane.  Alice Lawson told me that she was now a Marine Sergeant.  She was
alone, but she showed me the engagement ring her fiancé had given her.  I
missed Olivia and Aurelia, but I had been unable to persuade either of them to come
to the reunion.

The reunion would be for the
whole weekend.  Friday night was a casual event at a local nightclub.  Saturday
night was the catered banquet and dance at a reception hall.  Sunday was a BBQ
at Jeannie Molina’s beach house.  I decided to go to all three, although I was
anxious about seeing Jeannie again.  She was now married and had two children,
so I hoped she would be too busy to notice me.

When I walked into the bar on
Friday night, I saw no one that I knew.  A tall, good-looking man immediately
approached me.  He had dark brown hair and intense green eyes that I seemed to
remember.

“Hi, Kat.  How are you?”  He said
this as he threw his arms around me and squeezed all the breath out of me.

When he let me go, he must have
recognized the mystified expression on my face.  “It’s Wes.  Wes Bonner. 
Remember?”

Wes Bonner?  Of course, Wes
Bonner!  Felicia’s old boyfriend.  I hadn’t thought about him in a long time. 
“I knew it was you all the time, Wes,” I lied.  “You look wonderful.”  This was
not a lie.

“Are you here alone?” he asked.

“Yeah.  How about you?  You don’t
have Felicia stashed away somewhere, do you?”  I prayed that he didn’t.

“Felicia?  Haven’t thought about
her in a few years.  I’m here alone.”  Must be my lucky night, I thought.

Wes and I found a table.  We
talked for hours.  I had forgotten some of the good times we’d shared
together.  Apparently, Wes hadn’t forgotten anything.

“Remember that Saturday we all
went to the beach?  I will never forget that day.”  I did remember, and I
wondered why Wes found it so unforgettable.

“It was Laura, Felicia, you, and
me,” he continued.  “We bought some drinks and snacks and had a makeshift
picnic.  Just me and three beautiful women.  What a fantastic day.”

“I remember we couldn’t swim much
because of jelly fish,” I commented.

“Me, too.  Luckily no one got
stung.  I would have hated to have to pee on someone.  I’d have hated it more
if someone had to pee on me!”  He was laughing now.  “We had some fun back then.”

I agreed, and then I told Wes
about Laura and Ben.  He was very sympathetic, even though I didn’t need him to
be.  He told me that he recently divorced his wife, and he didn’t have a
girlfriend.  My interest suddenly intensified, but I feared that his only
interest was in nostalgia.

When the night ended, Wes walked
me to my car.  He said he would see me the following night.  He paused a moment
and then he bent down and kissed me.  I think we were both a little surprised,
but we also seemed to like where this was leading.  I drove away dreaming about
the rest of the weekend.

The following night was just as pleasant
as the previous one.  Wes and I were inseparable.  While we chatted with other
old friends, we always came back to each other.  We danced the evening away and
we had our picture taken together.  Wes looked stunning in a black suit and
tie; I was wearing an olive dress.  Even Mason’s little announcement about Max
didn’t seem to bother me.  At least, not until later when I was at home alone.

I was going to meet Wes at his
apartment on Sunday so we could drive together to the beach.  I couldn’t force
myself to get out of bed.  I had dreamed about Max all night, and now I
couldn’t get an image of him and his wife out of my head.  The nights with Wes
had been fun, but Max was my reality.  It seemed that I had lost him forever
now.  I called Wes and feigned a headache.  I promised to call him later.

In the afternoon, I started
feeling a little better.  I called Olivia, and she came over so I could tell
her about the reunion.  I told her about Wes, and she began wishing that she
had gone just so she could have seen him.  I also told her about Mason and his
big announcement, but if she noticed that it upset me, she didn’t let on.

A few days later, I spoke with Wes. 
He wanted us to go out the following weekend.  I was already feeling that the
magic had ended when the reunion did, but I agreed to meet him Saturday night
for a few drinks at a bar called The Coral Reef.  Just before we hung up, Wes
told me that his friend Gene was going to be there, too.  Wes hinted that Gene
wouldn’t mind if I brought one of my friends along.  I didn’t commit to
anything, but I knew Olivia would go if I asked her.

Olivia and I left for The Coral
Reef at seven-thirty Saturday night.  The bar was on the beach and it would
take us about twenty minutes to get there.  Along the way, Olivia primped in
the visor mirror on her side of my car.  She looked fine to me, but she kept
complaining about how horrible her hair looked.  After ten minutes, she turned
the visor up and gave a loud sigh.  If she was expecting compassion from me,
she was looking in the wrong place.

The Coral Reef looked like a
giant piece of driftwood that had been carved into a building.  There were no
windows, only knotty, saltwater-corroded boards and a swinging door that hung
slightly askew.  The roof was rusty tin and nails.  The bar sat on the main
corner of the only beach access road, and this helped bring in sun-worshippers,
swimmers, surfers, and especially fishermen.  A decent live band brought in
everyone else.  The place reached full capacity at about nine o’clock every
night, although the tiny parking lot filled up long before that.  Olivia and I
were lucky to stumble on an empty parking space near the highway.