One Little Letter_A Bad Boy, Second Chance Romance

by Robin Edwards

  Kyle was just a toddler when Scott left but he was now at the age where a boy needed his father. Kyle needed someone to play catch and build things with and learn things from. That person shouldn’t be me, not initially. I tried hard to be both mother and father but Kyle had gotten older and he was started asking about his father more and more.

  I didn’t and still don’t have the heart to get into the matter with him so I just brush off his questions or comments about his father whenever he had the urge to discuss it. It wasn’t fair to Kyle but I don’t have any other way of handling it. The only other solution for Kyle would to have another male figure in his life, that’s really what he needed but dating? That was another diatribe loved forced upon me from time to time.

  I hadn’t even dated since Scott left, the idea of getting into another relationship or even dealing with another man in a romantic sense was to much to handle back then. It still was. I refuse to have another man enter Kyle’s life only to have him leave again. I didn’t ever want to see Kyle disappointed about not having a father figure more than he was now. It wasn’t fair to him. It wasn’t fair to me. I never expected Kyle’s father to leave when he did, sure we were having problems but what marriages didn’t? The difference was, in those marriages, the husbands stuck around. Scott didn’t. He wasn’t ready to be a father or be responsible for another human being, he barely took responsible for me. I was the adult, I was the parent, I was the responsible one thinking about things long term.

  Scott wanted his freedom. He wanted to be free from obligations, responsibility and worry. It didn’t matter that he had son that would eventually want to look up to him. He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to be idolized, at least not in that way. So he took off and I hadn’t heard from him since.

  I’m not sure where it all went wrong. He was a great man when we first started dating or at least I thought but when I take a look back now, there were red flags all over the place. It was the hundreds of times where he didn’t follow through with anything he said, forgotten birthdays and anniversaries, the financial problems and even the loser friends.

  I guess what won me over in the beginning was his natural good looks and his charm. He was a smooth talker and easily convinced me to give him a chance after flashing me those cute dimples when I met him in that bar, one summer. I was mesmerized by his bright smile and the macho way he slicked his blonde hair back.

  I didn’t go out with him right away, but it was after his weeks of charming persistence that finally won me over, feeble smile and all. He swept me off my feet and knowing now, as long as things were fun…he was fun to be with. When things got heavy, he got skittish.

  When I told Scott I was pregnant, he showed enthusiasm but you also sensed the slight fear in the way he reacted and when I was in labor at the hospital, Scott was resistant to go into the delivery room and freaked out when the nurse put Kyle into his arms.

  As Kyle started accomplishing things as a baby like rolling over on his own, crawling, babbling – I told Scott that we should start reading to him more, encouraging and working with him on his developmental and learning abilities. That was around the time Scott really freaked out and the idea of being responsible for someone else for the rest of his life took a toll on him. That was when Scott took off.

  It was hard on me, sure, but I knew I’d get over it one day but a child doesn’t ever get over not having a parent even if they were too young to remember them. Being a parent but being a father especially was an experience that Kyle would never know for the rest of his life and Scott took that away from him.

  Chapter Three

  SEAN

  “Sean, these are just test ads because we have to stay within budget but if we get this right then we will nail this campaign.” Patrick said to me over lunch the following weekend.

  “How about we use more coupons or maybe we could organize a few focus groups to gauge interest?” I suggested as the mystery woman from days before entered the café. She was accompanied by another female this time around.

  I was immediately mesmerized by her beauty and I couldn’t help but think about how she was even more beautiful than I last remembered. Her friend wasn’t too bad to look at either.

  “There’s the mystery woman again! I told you it was meant to be!” I remarked to Patrick.

  The two beautiful women were instantly greeted by the hostess, “Hello Ladies, will it just be the two of you?”

  “Yes it is.” The mystery woman confirmed.

  “Just this way.” The hostess urged as the women followed her to the empty table behind me. I attempted another wave at the mystery woman as they passed by and she glanced in my direction and gave another heart warming smile.

  “Do you remember what I said? I told you that I would meet her again.” I whispered to Patrick cautiously.

  “To meet her again, you would have to meet her for the first time.” Patrick remarked and shook his head in annoyance.

  “Did you not see the way she just smiled at me? It was even bigger than the first one!” I argued quietly.

  “She probably let one out.” Patrick chuckled to himself.

  “No. It meant something,” I said as I scooted my chair back to eaves drop on the conversation the women were having. I was determined to find out any information that would help me get closer to this raving beauty.

  “…yeah, sometimes you get free tickets to games and passes to all kinds of events. So far it has been a fun and cool job.” The mystery woman gushed.

  “Wow, you are so lucky.” Her friend said in amazement.

  “Before I forget, you should take down my work email address.” The mystery woman said as I quickly pulled out my pen.

  “Ready? It is bjohnsen@nsk101...”

  “Oh my god, what are you doing?” Patrick asked as he watched me frantically scribble onto a napkin.

  “Shh, I am writing it down,” I said as I continued to eavesdrop while writing ‘bjohnson@nsk101.com’.

  A waitress arrived with our order as I strained to hear the rest of the mystery woman’s conversation but it was hard to do so with both the waitress and Patrick talking near me.

  “I hope you men are hungry.” The waitress said as she set our plates with a half sandwich and small order of fries.

  “Oh yea, I am starving.” Patrick rubbed his stomach and eyed the plates.

  “Enjoy.” The waitress said as she walked away to check on the other seated patrons.

  “This is what you would call fate.” I said holding up the napkin with a scribble of the mystery woman’s email address. Based on the prefix of her email address I assumed it was an amalgamation of her first name initial and her last name. If I was correct, she was “B” Johnson, but unfortunately I did not know what B meant. For all I knew, it could have stood for Barbara, Brittany or even Betty.

  The mystery woman, Beth noticed that her friend spelled her last name incorrectly on the notepad, “Oh, you spelled my last name wrong again.”

  “Whoops, I forgot.” her friend gushed.

  “Man, I am starved to.” I said as I bit into my BLT sandwich.

  “Why don’t you just go talk to her? She is sitting right behind you.” Patrick whispered before I did something stupid and absurd, like always.

  “What am I supposed to say? ‘My name is Sean and you are the woman I’ve been looking for my entire life. Will you marry me?” I suggested.

  “I think, ‘Hi, I am Sean.’ is simple enough.”

  “No. This email address here is fate. This is how it is supposed to happen.” I exclaimed waving the napkin around as Patrick laughed at the absurdity.

  Later that night, I sat at my drafting table sketching designs for hours at home in preparation for an upcoming promotional campaign but I could not focus because I was exhausted and I continued to obsessively think about whether or not I wanted to take a chance and email the mystery woman, B. I was ready for bed but I had to do something about her before it was too late.

  As I reac
hed into the front pocket of my jeans, I pulled out the folded napkin with B’s email address scribbled on it. I was still hesitant on whether or not I wanted to take the chance and email a woman who didn’t even know who I was let alone ever met.

  I spent the past few hours going back and forth with an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. As the night and my exhaustion wore on, the devil won.

  “To hell with it.” I muttered to myself and rushed over to my computer and waited for it to turn on. Once on, I opened my email account and started and new correspondence:

  Subject: The Biggest Reason Why I Am Your Secret Admirer

  Body: For starters, it is the middle of the night which is the PERFECT time to do something that scares you shitless.

  I started to yawn again as I tried to think of what else I would say but my eyes started to close on their own due to exhaustion. I decided to save the email as a draft and would continue it after I got some sleep, it was the middle of the night after all.

  ****

  BRIDGETTE

  I woke to the sound of my alarm clock blaring and fortunately I was in a good mood. I had a feeling that it was going to be a good day. I walked into the kitchen to make myself a cup of strong coffee and lunch for Kyle. To my dismay, I found him sitting at the dining room table playing with his cereal, contemplating something that must be bothering him.

  “Hey buddy, eat up. I want to try and get to the office early today. You are going to have your usual turkey and cheese sandwich, okay?”

  Kyle did not make an effort to respond to my comment and I sensed something was wrong, “Hey, what’s going on? Is something up?”

  “Does Dad like turkey and cheese too?” Kyle finally asked.

  I brushed his soft strawberry blonde hair out of his eyes and sighed, “Well, who doesn’t?”

  Not quite satisfied with my explanation, Kyle continued to ask me questions about his father until he shrugged and went back to eating his cereal. After we got ready for our respective days, I walked Kyle to his bus stop.

  “Okay, here you go,” I said as I tried to kiss Kyle on the cheek after I handed his backpack over.

  “No, mom. You can’t do that. It’s not the cool thing to do anymore.” Kyle whispered as he glanced over at the other kids that were already waiting at the bus stop.

  “Okay big guy, what is cool then?” I asked as Kyle used the opportunity to give me a high five and teach me a new handshake he must have learned from his peers.

  The school bus pulled up several minutes later as I started to get the hang of his newly discovered handshake. Kyle whispered ‘I Love You’ into my ear and quickly ran up the steps of the school bus so he could nab his preferred seat in the back.

  Although I started my day early, by the time I got onto the freeway and suffered through the bumper-to-bumper traffic, I was already late for work. It was the lengthy conversation I had in the kitchen with Kyle when he brought up his father again that did it.

  Vince, the CEO and Founder of NSK101 did not like tardiness and constantly preached about it daily and the importance of having time management skills. He was a minute-to-minute individual and it did not matter if you a minute or ten minutes late, it was all the same to him. He was a nice guy, of course, but everyone had a flaw and that was his.

  “Hey Beth!” I said quickly as I rushed into the building past her desk. Beth was the semi-new receptionist for NSK101 and fielded all of the incoming calls. She was also often seen as Vince’s favorite, which wasn’t true of course but she seemed to get away with everything. It was more than likely her sunny disposition that made you like her.

  “Morning!” Beth responded cheerfully.

  “It’s a very late morning. Is Vince in yet?” I asked her as Vince coincidentally walked into the lobby.

  “We start at 9:00 am, Bridgette. Not 9:30 a.m.”

  “I am soooo sorry, Vince. The freeway had bumper-to-bumper traffic and then there was that accident…” I apologized profusely.

  “Vince, the freeway was totally backed up. It took me thirty minutes just to get here when it usually takes me only fifteen.” Beth said in agreement.

  “Well, I guess I can understand those circumstances. Just remember girls, if all of our team members aren’t present then there is no team. If there’s not team, then we aren’t operating at 100% capacity. We might as well shut down at that point.” Vince huffed as he headed down the hall towards his office.

  “Okay!” Betha nd I agreed in unison.

  “Thank you for that,” I said gratefully once Vince was out of the picture.

  “Oh, don’t mind him. Vince is just a big ol’ teddy bear.” Beth said. It was like Beth to see the best in people. It’s what made her so likeable.

  “How is the leadership training going for you?” I asked.

  “Everyone has been really nice. Vince said it was the first step to climbing the corporate ladder here.” Beth giggled.

  Luke, the company sleaze ball, ran into the room panicking, “Bridgette! Bridgette! Where are the Summer Music Award reports?”

  “Um, they are on your desk in a file called, Summer Music Award Report.” I said sarcastically.

  “Ok, cool.” Luke cleared his throat and adjusted his tie in an effort to not look humiliated.

  “By the way, Luke, I also did you a favor and edited your grammar and fixed all of your typos.” I rolled my eyes at him and walked away.

  “That’s my little editor!” Luke shouted after me.

  “I am so sorry for being late, Monica.” I apologized as I walked down the hall into Monica’s office. Monica was the Director of Marketing for the company and my immediate supervisor. Despite being my boss, we had become close friends.

  “You look like you had a rough night, did anything special happen that I should know about?” Monica inquired suggestively.

  “No, a rough morning actually.” I sighed.

  “Kyle must be officially a man now because he wouldn’t let me kiss and hug him goodbye this morning before he got on the school bus. He acted like he had an image to protect.” I laughed at the thought.

  “Prepare yourself then, honey. It’s going downhill from there.” Monica laughed.

  “Don’t I know it?” I said as I left Monica’s office feeling somewhat better. It was our quick chats every morning that perked me right up. As I headed to my cubicle that was located adjacent to Monica’s, I went about my morning

  “Don’t I know it?” I said as I left Monica’s office feeling somewhat better. It was our quick chats every morning that perked me right up.

  As I headed to my cubicle that was located adjacent to Monica’s, I went about my morning routine of turning on my computer first. The wallpaper on my computer screen was one of my favorite pictures of Kyle.

  After I turned on my computer, the first thing I always did was open up my email account and scan the subject lines that filled the inbox. Every email I received usually were emphasized and overly exaggerated requests for help. Immediately, I noticed one that I didn’t exactly see every day. It read:

  The Important Reasons Why I Am Your Secret Admirer

  Hesitant to open the email, I quickly scanned the room to see if I was a victim of an office prank but no one was looking my way. Everyone was either steadily typing away or very active in a phone call.

  Hesitant to open the email, I quickly scanned the room to see if any of my coworkers glanced my way, in case this was a prank. It was just like my coworkers to do something like that. Despite her dedication and hard work, I was not taken seriously and was always taken advantage of. I opened the email after much duress, it said:

  FIRST, it’s the middle of the night which is a PERFECT time to do something that scares you shitless…

  SECOND, I interact with strangers every day, but it wasn’t until I saw you that I realized I was alone.

  THIRD, because I see the beauty in your soul.

  FOURTH, I see the goodness in your eyes.

  FINALLY, whenever I
see you, you take my breath away.

  “This has to be a prank.” I muttered to myself. It just had to be. Who would send me a secret admirer email? If it wasn’t a prank, then it had to be a random spam email. Convinced it was, I went about my work day. I had a lot of requests from coworkers that needed my help including my own projects.

  Later that night

  “Let me take a while guess, you bared your soul to the mystery girl and you got nothing back.” Patrick teased me.

  “Well considering I sent the email last night and it was very late when I sent it, I probably wouldn’t get a response so soon.”

  “Whatever, if you do not hear from her by tomorrow lunchtime, you should think about moving on.” Patrick urged.

  “Alright.” I agreed.

  “Now can you stop checking your email so we can discuss the upcoming campaign?”

  At first, when I didn’t get a response, I was slightly disappointed. After thinking about it, I quickly assumed that she was busy and hadn’t checked her email yet. Not everyone checked their email daily and maybe she was the type to not. Unfortunately, email doesn’t have the technology unless you set it, you can tell if they opened it and just chose not to respond. Since I couldn’t tell, either way, I decided to email her again when I got home with something just as witty in hopes that it would draw her attention to them.

  When he finally got home, he immediately went to his computer and opened up a new email correspondence:

  Some Things You Should Know About Me

  I am old-fashioned

  This is the first time I’ve ever done something like this but I think you are worth it.

  I am a great cook if I do say so myself. I make a delicious plate of Chicken Alfredo.

  I believe in true love

  ****