He looked at me strangely. I could see this was really upsetting him. Of course it would. He was sitting across from some nutcase that didn’t even know what love was. I expected him to just jump up and run out of there with his hair blowing back. But he didn’t.
“I realize my biological clock is ticking as well. If I ever want to have a family I can’t put it off much longer. But that is not a good enough reason to get married. And then there is the whole married thing. Marriage is like a contract in my mind. It’s between two people and should last forever. You can’t just junk it if times get tough. There are only a handful of valid reasons to walk away from a marriage.”
“Angie, I totally agree with that.”
“I’m sure you do. We are both old enough to know what marriage is all about. But it does change people. Everything is great during the romance period but then the reality of the other person’s quirks starts to set in. Little things that you never noticed before start to become apparent. Pretty soon they annoy the hell out of you.”
“Everyone has their own quirks,” Ben said.
Now he had moved his plate off to the side and had put his elbows on the table with his hands clasped and was resting his chin on his thumbs.
“We both have high stress jobs. When I’m on a case I am super focused on one thing, bringing the guy down. You have your stress, just like you were telling me earlier about the baby you had to work on because the mother slammed the car door on his hand to teach him a lesson. Hell, I don’t know how you handled it as well as you did. I would have dragged her out into the lot and done the same thing to her and said ‘see how that feels?”
“So what are you really telling me Angie? I think I have it pretty well figure out but I would like to hear exactly what you are saying to me. Just straight out.”
Oh mercy, here it was. No beating around the bush. No stalling, just the honest truth.
“Ben I do care for you but I am just not ready to get married and have a family. Maybe in five years or so but not right now. I enjoy everything about you but if you are looking for someone to settle down with you right now, you need to find someone else,” I said looking into his eyes.
Finally he put his napkin down and said, “Angie as much as I would love to have you for my wife I just can’t accept your terms. I don’t want to wait another five years to start a family. As much as it hurts me, I’m afraid we are going to have to go our separate ways.”
He pulled out a fifty dollar bill and laid it on the table.
“Tell the waiter he can keep the change,” he said as he stood up and walked out of the restaurant.
I sat there for a few more minutes and finished my glass of wine. Was I the biggest jerk in the world? Was I totally stupid? Should I run after him and tell him I was wrong? What a blockhead.
I didn’t do any of those things. Instead I got up, went out to my Healy and took a long drive in the cool air.
- FILE CLOSED -
About the author:
Marshall W. Huffman began writing seriously after he retired from teaching in 2009. He decided to start with a trilogy based on a cataclysmic event. Marshall’s first trilogy is THE EVENT SERIES which consists of THE END, THE BEGINNING, and THE REVELATION. With THE EVENT SERIES’ e-book publication success, he decided to write a second trilogy that is a frightening look at the events that could lead to THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. It is made up of: Book I – A NATION DIVIDED, BOOK II – A NATION AT WAR, and BOOK III – A NATION HEALING.
He has also published a series of books entitled: the ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILES with a central cast of characters. In addition, he has two another series entitled: THE NORRIS FILES with its own set of central characters and THE LOGAN FILES. He enjoys writing mysteries, techno-thrillers, and science fiction. His other sci-fi books, THE BRINK – DEEP FLIGHT , CLOSE PROXIMITY, and BLACKSTAR are intense techno-thrillers with sci-fi elements. His latest addition, CHIMERA , is a look at what could well happen if we are not careful with biological warfare agents.
Marshall was born in Bainbridge, Georgia and grew up in Indiana. After spending eight years in the Navy, he attended Ball State University, earning a B.S. degree in Business. He subsequently earned an MBA from Eastern Illinois University.
He taught at Eastern Illinois University and then at Parkland College where he became the HPI Program Director. During his tenure there, he became a chef and had a television program called Cooking around the World with Chef Marshall . He taught a series of gourmet cooking classes for Continuing Education as well. He gained professor status prior to his retirement
Professor Huffman retired from teaching along with his wife, Dr. Susan Huffman, to the Tampa Bay Florida area.
You can find his books under: MARSHALL HUFFMAN at Amazon.com.
ONE TOO MANY - ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILE #9 Page 13
