Page 119 of The Singles Club
My stomach rumbled for the third time, and a passenger sitting beside me in the waiting area reached for a granola bar. “Would you like one?”
“No, thank you.”
As much as my body wanted food, I had no appetite, and the three bites of a bagel I had this morning obviously hadn’t helped. I reached into my purse for my phone, but instead my fingers felt Justin’s envelope. With Isabella and Crystal at my place, I’d never gotten the chance to read it last night before I fell asleep. Then with family coming by this morning and all the craziness before getting to the airport, I figured I could read it on the plane. I checked the time on the screen above the gate desk. Nine more minutes until boarding. I got up and found a corner seat by the window for more privacy.
My last coaching session, he’d called it… hopefully it held the secret to a successful relationship. A part of me wanted to put it away and never open it, but I did make a promise not to give up.
Maybe one day, I would be ready. And I guess that would have to be enough for now.
* * *
Dear Vivian,
Do you remember when I first told you what I had chosen as my coaching session? You watched the most famous dance couple of their generation move to perfection. They were professionals. Flawless. You couldn’t see how two people like us—given our lack of experience and inferior skills and ability—could possibly pull it off, especially in the short time we had.
You could have walked away then and given up before we started. But you didn’t.
Sure, our first few sessions were a mess. You didn’t know how to waltz, and I didn’t know soft shoe. We stepped on each other’s toes. We made tons of mistakes. We used whatever knowledge and skills we already had to help each other, and we looked to Katerina to help us learn the parts we didn’t know how to do on our own.
Over time, we began to trust each other even more. We didn’t need to look down to make sure we wouldn’t step on the other’s toes. We flowed better. We hadn’t yet mastered the harder parts, but we kept practicing with the ideal dance in mind.
Just like tap, there are two foundations you must have before you can even begin to master the harder parts in a relationship: trust and a common ideal.
I trusted you to be my dance partner, and you trusted me to be yours. Not because we were experienced, unflawed, and perfect. We trusted that both of us wanted to learn that dance.
It’s no different with a successful relationship. Like in dance, there will be mistakes. Toes will be stepped on, and life will throw unexpected curveballs. But there will also be moments when you and your partner flow. A time when you don’t need to look down to watch each other’s feet. And a time will come when you begin to see the beautiful dance you and your partner have created and built together.
It isn’t about being Fred and Ginger from the start; a successful relationship is about the journey towards becoming that.
All you need is the desire to want it, and a partner who wants it as much as you do.
That’s the secret.
I wish you all the best, Vivian. And know that there is someone out there who will miss his dance partner very much.
- Justin
* * *
“Excuse me, miss?” The desk agent’s voice pulled me from Justin’s letter as I started reading it over a second time.
“Yes?”
“It’s last call, you have to board now.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you.” With the letter still clutched in my hand, I walked toward the desk and handed over my boarding pass. I headed down the tunnel leading to the door, the wheels of my carry-on thumping over the ridges on the walkway.
I stopped as the flight attendant smiled at me and gave the usual welcome greeting.
All I could see was Ilsa and Rick before she boarded that plane. She did the right thing. The moral thing. Ilsa could’ve chosen love, but instead, she decided to help stop a war.
In the end, that was what she desired most, and the reason she left Rick in the first place.
What did I desire most?
“Miss? Are you boarding?”
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