Chapter 2
Robyn called me the next day and invited me for dinner at her place. I accepted. I thought I was nervous on the phone with her, but that was nothing compared to the way I felt getting ready that evening. I wiped the steam off the bathroom mirror and stared at my reflection. My dirty blonde hair, still damp from my shower, just barely hair touched the top ears. Kristy had liked it best that way, and I made sure to never let it change. I had on a pair of khakis but hadn’t decided on a shirt yet. My eyes traveled down and rested on the ring around the gold chain on my bare chest. Sighing I ran a couple fingers over it. I knew this was going to be hard.
Making myself focus on other things I grabbed my bottle of hair gel, squeezed out a small amount, and combed it in with my fingers. Turning and heading back into the bedroom I opened my closet door again and pulled out the first thing that seemed suitable, a black button up shirt. I paused for a minute looking down the line of clothes to all of Kristy’s still where she had last left them. My heart started to ache again.
Again forcing to push forward I closed the closet door, pulled the shirt on, and buttoned it up. I glanced at the clock. I knew I should get going, but I could feel the beginning signs of a headache. I took a couple deep breaths and went back to the bathroom for some Advil. I waited a few minutes and felt a little better. So, with that I headed down the stairs and out the door pausing only to grab my car keys.
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I easily found Robyn’s apartment and walked up to it. “Here goes nothing,” I thought before knocking on the door. She answered looking more beautiful then I remembered. She was wearing a short black shirt and a red baby doll tee shirt with a v-neck. Her long layered hair flowed freely down her back. I smiled immediately at the site of her. She smiled back with a bit of a flustered look on her face.
“Taylor, you’re earlier than I expected,” she said.
“Really, I thought I was late” I told her.
“Well, maybe I’m running late” she laughed. “Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Come on in.”
I stepped in finding her apartment small, but cozy. From what little I knew about her I could tell her décor matched her personality to the t. It was modern and bright, not perfectly clean but not messy either. I liked it immediately. “Have a seat” she pointed to the couch, “I’ll go get us some wine.”
She disappeared into the kitchen and returned a moment later with two glasses and joined me on the couch. We chatted lightly for a while just getting to know one another for a while. I actually found myself getting comfortable and enjoying the moment. All nervousness left my body when she gave her warming smile.
After a short 20 minutes a timer went off in the kitchen and we moved into the room for dinner.
“You know, I’m really glad I called you, I almost didn’t” Robyn said towards the end of the dinner.
“Oh, how come?” I asked.
“Well, this is going to sound totally crazy, but when I first started to talk to you at the coffee shop the other day I could have sworn I saw a wedding ring on your hand so I just made friendly talk. But then later I looked and I didn’t see it so I asked you for your number on a limb. Then I guess I just figured you wouldn’t have given me your number if you weren’t interested” she explained.
I didn’t get far past the words wedding ring. My heard started beating faster. This was it, I was going to have to explain myself, and I wasn’t sure I was ready. I ran my fingers through my hair trying to figure out what I was going to tell her. “Robyn I have something to tell you” I said quietly. “You did see a ring on my finger.”
“What? I don’t understand” she gave me a confused look.
“I used to be married but…my wife died” I choked the words out. They were so hard to say aloud.
“Oh my god, but you’re so young,” Robyn said as if she couldn’t comprehend.
“23” I whispered not that it meant anything. A silence enveloped the room; it was deafening. I suddenly felt like I had to get out of there, the sooner the better. “Listen Robyn, I think I should get going now,” I said.
“Oh Taylor, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say something so horrible. Oh, I’m so sorry” she started apologizing hysterically.
I touched her arm. “Its okay, you didn’t know,” I said softly. Our eyes met for a moment, and I gave her a sincere look. “I had good time really, but I’m not used to this sort of thing yet. So, I’m going to get going, and I’m going to call you tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?” she said unsure of herself.
I nodded and got up. Robyn followed me to the door. I turned around and looked at her. “Thank you for a nice evening” I said with a small smile.
“Good bye Taylor” she whispered and I was out the door.
