The Love Handles Club (Love in the City Short)
Read The Love Handles Club (Love in the City Short) Online
Authors: Liv Morris
by Liv Morris
Copyright © 2013 Liv Morris
Digital Edition: April 2013
Cover image licensed by www.shuttershock.com
Cover Photo design by Jada D’Lee
Edited by Dee Ward
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
If certain places or characters are referenced it is for entertainment purposes only.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the Author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This short story is dedicated to the
original Love Handles Club. A unique group of men who meet on Thursday nights somewhere near our nation’s capital. These men and their life-long friendships inspired me to write this fictitious story.
Bradley, Bob, Dave, and Matthew, many thanks!
To Kelly and Tina: I owe you all
a drink or three. Thanks!
Table of Contents
“Okay, there’s one more signature left and we should be done here.”
I watched Matthew Jensen, my attorney,
place the last remaining document in front of me and signed where he directed. A sick feeling gripped my stomach as ten years of my life was erased with a simple stroke of the pen.
“Well, that should do it,” he
said while gathering up the papers spread across the conference table. “I know this finalization has been a long time in coming, Bradley. But I think in the end it was fair.”
“Fair or not, at least Natalie and her father’s company are out of my life. For good.” I stood and reached out to shake his hand. “Thanks
, Matthew, for getting this settled. I just hope that I never need your services again.”
“Me too, Bradley.
” Matthew returned my handshake with a sad smile. “You take care of yourself and try to put this behind you.”
“Will do.”
While exiting the glass-covered office building, I felt a deep, cleansing breath escape my lungs. I looked up into the cloudless Dallas sky as the warm afternoon breeze blew through my hair and it felt good. I felt good and... free. Finally free.
As I walked
toward my car, the reality that I no longer had any tie to my wife of ten years hit me. The thought of calling Natalie my “ex-wife” made me laugh. It was bittersweet, but finding humor in the clustered mess of our marriage’s end gave me a bit of relief.
No one around would’ve noticed, but there was a definite weight off my shoulders. I felt it down to my b
ones. Removing the heavy load hadn’t come easy. But I had no regrets. That part of my life was over and now it was time to finally move on.
It had been a long and lonely year since I
’d filed for divorce from Natalie. I’d played it safe after the official filing, even though I’d caught her having an affair with another senior executive at our company. I didn’t want to give her any ammunition against me. I had so much more to lose, so I’d remained faithful to her until I signed the divorce papers today.
It had been
over a year since I’d been with anyone. I missed being around a woman and not just for the sex. Though that would be nice too. Real damn nice.
Hell, I was sick of being alone. I wanted someone to be with, share a dinner out instead of the usual take-out at home.
I guess after all the crap I’d been through in the last year, I still believed in love. I had to. It was the only thing that kept me from becoming a bitter man.
My cell phone rang once I was inside my parked car. Looking at the screen, I saw that it was Dave, my best f
riend since elementary school, likely calling to check up on me and see how I’m doing. Dave had stood by me throughout the yearlong divorce battle. He was my rock.
“Hey, Dave.”
“Hey, man.” He always sounded upbeat. It was his happy go lucky way. “How did things go? You met with the lawyers today, right?”
“Yep. I’m officially divorced. Just left their offices.”
“Wow. Thank God it’s finally over. You can move on now.” He had no idea how much I wanted to do just that.
“My thoughts exactly.” I turned on the car to get the a/c circulating. The sun had heated up the interior and I felt like I was sitting in a sauna.
“You can begin tonight. Love Handles at seven.” Dave had a convincing way of telling people what to do. I think he missed his calling as a diplomat for the State Department.
“I’ll be there, but I plan on getting car service tonight. I have a little celebrating to do and didn’t want t
o worry about how much I drink.”
“I’ll swing by and pick you up around 6:30. It’s no problem.”
“That’d be great. Never one to turn down a free ride.” We both laughed.
“The girls are joining us tonight.
Hope that’s alright.”
Usually
, just the guys hung out together on the weekly Love Handles Club night. But occasionally some of the wives and women we knew from our high school days joined us. Looked like tonight was one of those nights.
“Sure, I haven’t seen them in a while. It’ll be good to catch up. Who knows
, one of them may have a lead on a job for me? I’m gainfully unemployed now.”
“You may be unemployed, but you should be set for life with the divorce settlement. Unless Natalie and her father didn’t buyout your shares of the company
as planned.”
“I’m good. Everything got worked out with them buying me out of the company. My attorney says it was a fair deal. I say it’s done.”
I really didn’t want to talk about the specifics. “So where are we meeting tonight? The usual?”
“Yes, The Londoner. I feel like playing a game or two of pool.”
“Bob humiliated you last week, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yes, it was ugly. I need to save face tonight,” he continued. “Oh
, I almost forgot. We have someone special coming. Someone that I think you’ll want to see.”
“Whoa, Dave. I just signed the papers a few minutes ago. Please tell me you’re not trying to hook me up already.”
Dave had been carrying around a list of women he thought would be perfect for me. I, on the other hand, wanted a little time to breathe. I wasn’t quite ready to jump into the dating game tonight.
“Oh
, it’s nothing like that. It’s Kelly. She’s joining us tonight.” He paused and so did I.
After a few seconds I finally replied in almost a whisper, “My Kelly?”
“Yes, your Kelly. Is that alright?” His question had a hesitancy to it.
“I guess so.” But truthfully, I wasn’t sure how I felt about seeing her after all these years. “It’s been a long time. I saw her at the reunion a few years ago, but I didn’t even get to say hello. Right after we made eye contact, her jerk of a husband ushered her out of the banquet hall.”
“Yeah, I remember you telling me about that. Well, I have some good news for you then.” Dave paused increasing my anticipation. “She’s coming alone. Tina’s bringing only her and I don’t know the whole story but she moved back here from Atlanta...”
“So she’s back in Dallas?” I interrupted. “Permanently?” I should’ve been happy with the news that she was here in our hometown. But having my first love around with her possessive husband wouldn’t be an easy pill for me to swallow. The thought of running into them somewhere filled me with dread.
“Tina said she’s moving back to Dallas and the husband isn’t. I think they split up. But don’t quote me on that.”
Though
ts began to jumble in my head at the possibility that Kelly was single now too. I needed to find out for sure before I let my mind even toy with the idea.
“Well, it’ll be good to see her. And thanks for giving me the heads up, Dave.”
“What are friends for? Maybe you two can celebrate tonight. Your freedom and her homecoming.”
“Let’s avoid divorce talk, if you don’t mind. Deal?”
“Deal,” Dave answered with gusto. “Listen, I have a conference call in a few that I need to prepare for. I’ll see you at 6:30.”
“Okay. See you later.”
I tossed the phone aside and pulled out of my parking space to head back home. I needed some time to mull over what Dave had said. Hell, I was going to see Kelly Parker tonight. I really couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around that fact.
My hands started to sweat and it had nothing to do with the day’s heat either. I knew the cause. Regret tinged with a sprinkling of fear. Pretty much what every heartbreaking jerk like me should feel after coming to his senses too late.
Yeah, I’d broken her heart. Likely shattered it to pieces. I have no excuse for my nineteen-year-old self. I was a dumb knucklehead back then. If I had those teen years to do over again, I never would’ve done the idiotic things that led to our break-up.
Kelly and I
had met our freshman year in high school. She had attended a private, religious school before she switched to Highland Park High. I remembered seeing her in my second hour class the first day of school.
She was nervous. It was easy to see. And who wouldn’t be? We were a snobby bunch of rich kids and didn’t embrace newcomers easily. I moved to her side in hopes of rescuing her. I also wanted to be the first one to introduce myself to the pretty girl standing alone. There was j
ust something about Kelly. I could still see her looking up at me with those pretty brown eyes, big as saucers. She seemed so fragile, vulnerable.
Standing next to her, I
’d looked down and said “hi.” She’d smiled back at me and from that moment on, I’d been wrapped around her little finger. We’d just clicked. During our four years of high school, we’d shared everything two crazy, lovesick kids could possibly experience together. However, everything had changed when we’d gone off to different colleges after graduation.
Kelly
had selected Baylor University in Waco. Or I should say her parents had chosen the school for her. They were deeply religious and thought it best to have their impressionable daughter attend a nice Baptist college.
I’d gone
off to the University of Texas in Austin and joined a rambunctious fraternity. Not a very smart idea if you wanted to keep a long-distance relationship going. I’d convinced myself that I was immune to the temptations of booze and willing women. Sadly, I’d been wrong and ended up living like there wasn’t a beautiful girl two hours away expecting me to be faithful.
After bein
g apart for two months, Kelly had come to visit me over UT’s homecoming weekend in October. She hadn’t suspected that I was cheating on her, as everything between us had seemed fine. When we’d talked on the phone, I had kept up the ruse of being a devoted boyfriend. What a complete jerk.
However, my secrets ha
dn’t stayed hidden for long. During her short stay on campus, she’d found out I was seeing other girls at school. Just the thought of how that weekend had gone down made me dread seeing her tonight.