Page 87 of A Dream for Daphne

“What happened?”

“Her name was Ella,” he said. “We dated on and off.”

“Meaning you were friends and then weren’t?”

He snorted. “I’m not sure we were ever friends.”

“Huh? How can you date someone and see a future with them and not even think of them as a friend?”

And that was where his mother was right once again.

“Which just tells you how wrong it was between Ella and me. We got along well, but we didn’t have a ton in common. I know that now. She didn’t like the way I looked at the end of the day. She sure the hell wasn’t going to kiss me let alone touch me untilI showered. Half the time she wanted me to half strip before I entered her house.”

Daphne frowned. “Sounds prissy to me. Not to be mean, but that’s just rude. You take your shoes off and you knock off as much dirt as you can. I’ve never seen you be disrespectful of it in my house.”

“I’m not,” he said. “My mother asked my father and me to do that and we did. The first time I didn’t, she made me clean the floors so I could see how much of a mess I made that could have been prevented. Just like spraying the shower down after each time too.”

“I find it very considerate of you to do those things.”

“It’s a habit now. But Ella didn’t care about those things. She always wanted to go out to dinner, go on vacation or hang out with friends at their houses. She wasn’t one for doing too much outdoors. Not her thing to sweat or get dirty.”

“Guess she must work in a nice air conditioned office,” she said.

“That would be a yes. She’s a paralegal,” he said.

“Everyone does what makes them happy,” she said.

“I’ve learned that. We dated for about eight months. Then she wanted some space. I wasn’t around much to do all those things she wanted in the summer. I had more time in the winter, but she didn’t like the colder weather and felt like all we did was stay in her house. My mother was still living with me, or rather, I was living with her.”

“And it puts up walls in a relationship when you don’t live alone. I understand that.”

“It did,” he said. “Ella never asked me to move in. Maybe if she had I would have considered it, but all I could think of was stripping on the back porch every day and it made me feel like shit. That I wasn’t worthy to enter her home.”

“I’m pissed for you,” she said. “Did you ever tell her how you felt?”

“No,” he said. “I’m not sure she would have cared if I said I felt like a second-class citizen or that I was someone she was paying a service for and not the guy she was dating.”

“How did you end up together again?” she asked. “I can’t see you going back for more.”

“I was stupid,” he said. “It’s a small area. Not always easy to find someone to date. I don’t know. I can come up with all sorts of excuses or reasons, but it doesn’t matter.”

“No,” she said. “It doesn’t.”

“We were apart about six months or so. I don’t know. Then we got back together again, lasting about five months and more of the same. It was getting to me more the way she was treating me. I couldn’t cut back my hours at work. I was running the business and people depended on me. I think she just looked at it like it wasn’t that big of a deal. We were smaller back then.”

“Her loss,” she said. “My gain.”

“I love you,” he blurted out and then put his hand in front of his mouth. “Oops, that isn’t what was supposed to come out of my mouth.”

“I’m not sorry it did,” she said. “Because I love you too. Come here.”

He moved over and gave her a hug and kiss. “Really? You do?”

“I do,” she said. “I can honestly say I’ve never felt this for anyone else before. I know you most likely have and that is why we are having this conversation.”

“I thought I loved Ella. I really did. Which is why I took her back a second time, but it lasted less than three months. She wasn’t happy and neither was I. I felt like I gave it everything I had.”

“Doesn’t sound like she did the same,” she said.

---