He notices a standing in front of the pool by herself, staring off into the sky.
“Have you ever been to a party like this?” he says to her.
She smiles and says, “Nope. Can’t exactly say that I have. You?”
“I went to a college party once, where we had to dress up in costume as your favorite food but that doesn’t really count does it?”
Bridgette shakes her head ‘no’ and smiles.
“I’m Sean, and I’ve looked sillier plenty of times, like right now.”
“I’m Bridgette. If anyone seems silly right now, it’s me. I brought cheesecake with me.”
“I brought cheesecake! Seriously! I’m not kidding!” Sean said amazed.
“Really?”
“Yes! And you don’t look silly at all. As a matter of fact, you seem very…nice.”
“Thank you, but you must be drunk.”
“No, if I were drunk, I’d probably be singing silly songs that no one would recognize.”
“Those are the best.” Bridgette smiles endearingly.
“That’s crazy. Are you friends with Beth?”
“Yeah. We work together. You?”
“To be honest, I thought this was going to be our first date.”
“I think the point of tonight, is it’s everyone’s first date.”
“No, I meant an actual date. You know with a beginning and an end.” Sean explained.
“Well, it’s still early. If you’re lucky, you might still get an end.”
Beth walks up at that moment and pats both of them on the back. “What’s going on?”
“We were just talking about parties,” Bridgette explains.
“Are you having fun?” Sean asks Beth.
“Oh, I have fun wherever I go. Although, no one has opened up my lock so far. Would you like to try?”
Sean takes his key necklace and tries to open Beth’s lock, but it doesn’t work.
“Aww, nice try, though. Did you guys try?” Beth asked them.
“No, we haven’t, actually.” Bridgette answers.
“How about you guys try. Come on, don’t be shy.” Beth urges.
They try to open Bridgette’s lock with Sean’s key, and it works. Bridgette’s lock opens.
“It fits! Yeah!!!! Everyone, we have our first party couple!” Beth shouts to everyone in the room.
“Picture time!” Allison screams and pushes Sean and Bridgette closer together. “Don’t forget to give me your email before you leave so I can send you the picture.
“Okay, everyone. Let’s see who else is a match.” Beth shouts to the party patrons as she heads back inside the house.
“Okay, so what now,” Bridgette asks Sean.
“Cheesecake? We can have a slice. Why can have a slice, right? No one is going to eat it.”
Suddenly getting uncomfortable, Bridgette takes off the lock necklace and gives it to Sean, “You know what, and I’m actually going to take off. Go get to know Beth.”
“Well, in that case, it was nice to meet you, Bridgette.”
“You seem like a good guy Sean, keep it that way,” Bridgette says and goes inside leaving Sean confused on the patio all by himself.
Chapter Five
Next morning.
“Hey, you. Did you have fun.”
“You bet! We played video games all night and had so much pizza.” Kyle said excitedly as he came into the house when Monica dropped him off.
“Wow. Sounds like you had fun.” Bridgette said to Kyle as Monica walked to her front door.
“Thank you for helping out, Monica.”
“Anything to get your love life out of the dumpster. How was your little party?” Monica asked.
“Not so little. It was a singles party with 300 of Beth’s closest friends. Basically, it was torture. There was a lock and key theme. I guess it was an okay ice breaker.”
“Did anyone break your ice?”
“No, not really.”
“Bridgette…”
“Well, there was this one guy, Sean. But he was crazy about Beth.” Bridgette sighed.
“At least you met one decent guy there. That should restore your faith in mankind. If not, there’s always your internet man.”
Bridgette spent the rest of the day and evening reminiscing about her love life and last night’s party. She sat at her computer, but since there was no new email from her secret admirer, she decided to flip through their history of email exchanges and saw that Beth’s friend Allison emailed her a pic of last night’s party. It was a picture of her and Sean. She smiled to herself.
Just then she gets an email notification from her secret admirer, and the email banter begins:
Sean
So what did you do last night?
Bridgette
Big party.
Sean
Well, did you meet anyone interesting?
Bridgette
I’ll never tell.
Sean
I’ll take that as a yes.
Bridgette
Whatever, you know men. They never call, just email.
Sean
Maybe you’ll be surprised…
Monday morning
Beth’s phone starts to ring, and Bridgette kindly answers it on her behalf. Beth’s desk phone rings and Bridgette picks it up
“Beth’s office, how can I help you?”
“Beth?” the caller asks.
“No this is Bridgette. Beth’s in a meeting.”
“Bridgette? As in, I brought a cheesecake – Bridgette?”
“Sean?” Bridgette asked.
“I didn’t know that you were Beth’s assistant?”
“I’m not, I’m just helping while she’s away. So what did I miss after I left the party the other night?”
“Just more of my potential witty banter.” Sean teased.
“Any drunken singing?” Bridgette teased back.
“Nope just stuck with soda the rest of the night.”
“I would have thought you would have taken requests.”
“Oh….is that why you left.” Sean teased.
“Well, I’ll tell her you called. Does she have your number?” Bridgette said changing the subject.
“I’ll give it to you right now. (555) 555-1240. I’ll talk to you soon, Bridgette.”
“Yeah, yeah. They say they’ll call, but they never do.” Bridgette teased.
“Take care, Bridgette,” Sean said before hanging up.
Monica walks up to Bridgette with a sad look on her face.
“Bridgette can we talk,” Monica asked and asked Bridgette to join her in her office for more privacy.
“What’s wrong?” Bridgette asked worryingly.
“Bridgette, sit down,” Monica said as she shut the office door.
“Is something wrong?”
“I’ve been offered a job in Chicago.”
“Chicago? What kind of job?”
“VP of Marketing for Maddison Hotels,” Monica explained.
“Wow, what did you say?”
“I told them yes. I’m leaving in a month.”
“Congrats, I’m happy for you.” Bridgette’s eyes started to tear up, and her voice caught in her throat.
“Awww, Bridge don’t cry.” Monica hugged her.
“Sorry, it’s just…who am I going to cook my infamous Chicken Alfredo for and you know how much Kyle loves your boys.” Bridgette wept.
“If I had anything to say about this is you’re not losing a friend, you’re gaining a promotion. I’m going to talk to Vince about you this afternoon.”
“He still thinks I’m an assistant.”
“He believes that every woman is an assistant.” Monica giggled. “But you know more than anyone out there including Vince. I’m going to do my best sales job.”
“Monica, you are unbelievable but what are the chances of that actually happening.” Bridgette blew her nose.
“What is meant to be, will be,” Monica said and hugged Bridgette again.
At the end of the work day, Bridgette ran into Beth in the elevator.
“Hey guess what. I have seats to tonight’s game. Want to come with? I have two tickets.”
“Sorry I can’t. I have plans with Kyle.”
“Darn. Everyone I asked is busy. I was looking for a fun night out.”
“Why don’t you ask Sean?”
“Sean. Sean…oh, I forgot to call him back.”
“You can make amends with basketball tickets.”
A couple of hours later
Sean enters the building and follow’s Bridgette’s directions to find her cubicle, but all he sees is a little kid sitting nearby. Above the boy’s head is a sign that reads: Kyle’s Desk.
Hesitantly he asks, “Kyle? Do you work here?”
“I’m 10.” Kyle rolls his eyes.
“That’s all?”
“Uh huh,” Kyle confirms.
“That’s probably not enough to work here. Would you happen to know where Beth Johnson is?”
Kyle spins in the desk chair and says, “Everyone’s in the conference room.”
“I see.” Sean notices the kid drawing a shark. “Whoa, that’s kind of cool.”
“It’s Water Zone. Have you ever been there?”
“No. I’ve never gone.”
“I was supposed to go last year, but I got really sick,” Kyle said.
“Oh, that's a shame. You missed out on the pools and the huge water slides.”
“No way!”
“Way!” Sean joked with the kid.
“Ever since last summer. He’s been obsessed with the place.” a familiar voice said. Sean turned around, and it was Bridgette. She sat down next to Kyle.
“Hello, Bridgette.”
“Hi, Sean.”
“So I take it that kid is yours?” Sean asked surprised.
“Yeah, for the last ten years. I think I’ll keep him.”
“Mom, I can hear you. She’s supposed to take me to Water Zone this year. Want to come?” Kyle asked Sean.
“Yeah, I’ll go with you. I’ve never been there. Thank you, man.” Sean said patting Kyle’s head.
“Mom, can I go play with the copy machine?”
“Hands only, buddy.”
“Alright…” Kyle walked away pouting.
“You may not want to bring it up, or he’ll be all over you. He never forgets.” Bridgette warned Sean.
“Neither do I.” Sean joked.
“I do believe someone owes me some drunken singing.”
“Be careful what you wish for.” Sean teased.
Beth finally joins them and says, “Why do I always find you two together.” She turns to Sean and says, “Ready for basketball?”
“Yeah.”
“Have fun guys,” Bridgette says to them.
“Bye.” Both say in unison.
Several hours later after the basketball game, Sean and Beth decide to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner.
“That was one of the best games I’ve ever been to. Thank you for inviting me.”
Sean orders Chicken Alfredo and Beth orders grilled, boneless chicken with a side of vegetables in a light sauce.
“I’m trying to lose weight,” Beth explains.
“Don’t tell me that, you’re perfect.”
“What else do you think you know about me?” Beth asks.
“You’re bright, ambitious, very capable but most likely you’ve gotten by because of you are beautiful. Despite your beauty and numerous friends, at the end of the day, you just want true love, and you realize it is harder than you thought because most guys find you out of their league and they decide to not even try. You are currently trying things outside of the box and seeing where it leads. Was I close?”
“Pretty good,” Beth says flattered
“Yeah?” Sean said surprised.
“Yeah, definitely.” Beth gushed.
Monday morning
“It’s weird, it’s like Sean knows me, knows my soul.” Beth reminisced.
“Sounds like he’s a very sensitive guy.” Monica guessed.
“He seems to like me for what’s inside.”
“What’s on the outside, is what’s motivating him.” Monica joked.
“This one may be different, Monica,” Beth said and jumped off the break room counter and headed back to her cubicle.
“What about you? You haven’t mentioned internet guy lately.” Monica said to Bridgette.
“That’s because he’s stopped emailing.”
“Maybe he’s out of town or waiting for you to email him.” Monica guessed.
“Oh come on. Let’s face it, Monica. I’ve been having feelings for a guy I’ve never met, now nothing about and he could be anyone. I have a son to think about. I can’t bring strange men into his life.”
“That hasn’t exactly been a problem for you,” Monica said sarcastically.
“Whatever, I’m ending this right now.” Bridgette jumped off the counter too and headed to her cubicle to stop all communication with her internet guy.
Bridgette went to her computer, opened up her email account and typed her ‘Dear John’ email. The subject line read:
I’ve met someone.
I’ve enjoyed getting to know you, but I’ve met someone, and I think I need to move on. I’ve met someone real, someone, I like. He’s from the party I mentioned the other day. I believe that it’s best if I focus on him right now and see where it goes. I hope you understand. All the best. B.
Later on in the afternoon, Bridgette respond a response from her secret admirer. It read:
I totally understand, he sounds like a great guy. Good luck B.
Beth came up excited as Beth was reading her secret admirer’s response over and over.
“Sean just called. He sounded very excited. He said he wanted to take me camping this weekend. I’ve never been. What about you, what are you doing this weekend? Going to finally meet your secret admirer?” Beth teased.
“Hardly, I just dumped him.” Bridgette shrugged.
“I have a lot of guys I can fix you up with, besides the guys from the party.”
“No. I’m not good on blind dates.”
“How do you expect to meet someone? The internet? I’ll tell you what, let’s go on a double date. Me and Sean with you and the guy I set you up with. But before we go do this, you need to get some sort of makeover.” Beth said excitedly.
The next morning
Bridgette and Beth both arrive at work the same time, this time with Bridgette post-makeover. She looked like a different person, and she was feeling beautiful and sexy.
“Vince, you remember Bridgette,” Beth says to Vince.
“Wow, great comeback!”
As Luke starts to pass by, he doesn’t notice that it was Bridgette standing there, “Beth are you going to introduce me to your…” he stops mid-sentence before he says, “Bridgette, wow. This is unbelievable.”
“Was that a compliment?” Bridgette asks Beth.
“Only if you want it to be,” Luke says as they walk away from him quickly until they run into Monica down the hall.
“Oh my god, Bridgette. You are looking sexy!”
“Beth’s the makeover queen,” Bridgette said.
“No, she’s got it going on,” Beth said to Bridgette. “I guess that means, Operation: Bridgette is dating is on. What are you doing tomorrow night?”
By the next evening, Beth managed to set a blind date up for Bridgette and refused to tell her anything except where and when to meet them.
“Mom, you look pretty. I’m glad you did a makeover.”
“Thank you, honey. I’m starting to feel kind of beautiful.”
“Are you going to bring home a new dad?”
“I’m going to go on a date, not a shopping spree.”
“That's a shame,” Kyle said dejectedly.
“Look honey. One day you might have a new dad, but for now, all that matters is that I love you very much.”
“
I know mom.”
“Be kind to your babysitter.”
Thirty minutes later, Bridgette meets everyone at the restaurant and sees her date for the first time. Not bad looking, she thought.
“Hi, Bridgette.”
“Hi, Beth.”
“Beth, this is Gabe. Gabe this is Bridgette.”
Sean comes running in several minutes later and says, “Sorry I’m late. Bridgette, you look beautiful. Beth so do you.” He sees Bridgette’s date and introduces himself.
“Hi, I’m Sean.” And holds out his hand.
“I’m Gabe.” He shakes it in return.
While eating pasta, several minutes later Bridgette noticed Sean having an easier time eating the noodles.
“I have never gotten the hang of twirling pasta. How do you do that.”
In a mock Italian accent, Sean shows Bridgette how to twirl Spaghetti while Beth goes on to tell Gabe more about Bridgette.
“Gabe, Bridgette has the most adorable 10-year-old son.”
“Oh yeah? What does he do for a living?” Gabe teases.
“In his mind, he’s a pro athlete. But in reality, he’s just learning to play ball. I’m not the greatest teacher.”
“Bridgette, I’d be up for teaching him,” Sean said suddenly.
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“It’s not a problem.” Sean shrugged.
“Are you kidding? I’m sure he’d love that.”
“It’s a date then.” Sean shrugged again.
After dinner, Beth and Sean continued their date at a local park to watch the stars.
“Tonight wasn’t so bad, was it?” Beth asked.
“I’m not sure if Gabe is the right match for Bridgette.”
“It was the best I could do on short notice. You have to kiss a bunch of frogs before you find the prince.”
“Because you believe in true love right?”
“I believe in true luck, at least that’s how it always worked out for me.”
One Little Letter_A Bad Boy, Second Chance Romance Page 4
