Page 12 of Halloween Hottie
I force a smile. “That’s great. I’m happy for you.”
“I heard about Trish. I’m really sorry. So crazy. She was so young.”
“Thank you,” I say, lifting my beer and having a drink.
I happen to catch a glimpse of Bumblebee walking into the kitchen, so I excuse myself and make my way back to the game room where Elizabeth is just getting up to leave.
“Sorry about that. Once Janet gets going, there’s no shutting her up,” she says with a smile.
“No problem. Need another drink?”
“I was just going to get one.”
“I’ll get you one,” I offer.
“Thanks.”
I laugh. “It’s sort of my job.”
She giggles and turns to go back to her seat, and I rush to the kitchen and cut in line to get her another beer.
“Whoa, man. Wasn’t you just here?” the guy operating the tap asks.
I roll my eyes. “It’s for someone else.”
He laughs. “Yeah, sure bro.” He hands it over, and I take it back to the game room and have a seat with Elizabeth.
“You didn’t seem to enjoy the conversation with Bumblebee too much.”
She takes a drink of her beer. “Well, we haven’t seen one another in a really long time. I bumped into her earlier, but now that she’s trashed, she wanted to tell me about her breakup. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s drunk-dialing the guy by the end of the night.”
“What about you? Are you single? I’m assuming so since Margo was so adamant about us meeting.”
She smiles and nods. “I am single. What about you?”
I nod. “I am. My wife died a little more than a year ago.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry!”
I shake my head. “It’s okay. We had time to prepare and say our goodbyes.”
“Do you mind if I ask how?”
“Ugh, she was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. By the time we found out, it was too late to do anything about it.”
She shakes her head. “That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. We had time to adjust and wrap our minds around it all, say our goodbyes and whatnot.”
“But still… so young. How long had you guys been together?”
“We started dating our senior year of high school, dated all throughout college, and then I asked her to marry me the day we graduated. We were married a year later.”
“That’s sad. It’s like a Nicholas Sparks book.”
I laugh. “I have no idea what that is.”
She smiles. “He’s an author. He writes love stories, but most of them are like modern-day Romeos and Juliets, star-crossed lovers ending in tragedy.”
