Page 15 of Pity Present
“Yeah, but what fun is a great apartment when you’re all alone?”
“Which is why you’re here,” I remind him. “Maybe in two weeks you’ll have met a nice woman to date and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a couple.” More likely he’ll have wasted a ton of money and still be miserable, but that’s his problem.
“I had a really nice girlfriend before I met Amelia,” Kyle says.
“What happened to her?”
He pinches the bridge of his nose like he’s trying to stop a throbbing pain, before telling me, “I left her for Amelia.”
“Oh man, that’s rough.”
“It’s like karma is gunning for me. I knew enough not to fool around, but I did it anyway. Then I got the same that I gave. It’s poetic justice, I guess.”
“They do say that what goes around, comes around …” I agree.
“I know I deserve to be in the boat I’m in,” Kyle says. “But I justified my behavior because my girlfriend and I weren’t engaged. Heck, we weren’t even living together. I figured I was still single, so I was allowed to change my mind.”
“Were you exclusive?” I ask.
“That’s the fine line, isn’t it?” He pauses before saying, “We were, but she traveled a lot, so it didn’t always feel like it.”
I think about Lana and realize that even if we’d tried harder, we weren’t destined to be. You can’t live long distance forever because inevitably one of you will start to feel you’re not receiving enough attention, and that can easily develop into a wandering eye.
As I ponder what might have been, Kyle stands up. “It’s been nice talking to you, Blake. I guess I’ll see you tonight.”
“You bet,” I tell him. As I watch him walk away, I wonder at what age we start to realize there aren’t an endless number of people we might wind up with. I’m not a fatalist, but I have been starting to wonder if we might not pick our mate before we arrive on Earth.
That thought leads me to consider that by a series of near misses I might have already lost my opportunity to meet my person. What if she got itchy and decided I wasn’t getting to her fast enough? What if she settled for someone she knew wasn’t right for her but didn’t want to wait anymore?
I’m about to have a panic attack when I hear a voice inside my head ask,What if she’s still out there looking for you?
CHAPTER NINE
MOLLY
I spend the morning nosing around the lodge, trying to put myself in the place of the average guest. The problem is, I can’t quite pinpoint who that is. Not only are there a lot of families here, there’s also a sizable singles’ event about to take place. I open my notes app and write down mouthwash. That’s something everyone can use.
Sitting in the great room, I noodle around on my phone to find out more information about Trina’s new matchmaking endeavor. I discover there will be thirty women and thirty men. While that feels like a big number, it’s probably better than too small of a group. How horrible would it be to get here and find out in the first two days that no one was right for you? Then you’re stuck for days on end without any other options.
As I continue to read about the event, I learn that it’s specifically for singles in or around the Chicago area. That’s smart because if they were from farther away, it would make it difficult for couples to continue to see each other after the two weeks are up. It’s hard enough to make a go of things when you’re based in the same town.
I eat a late lunch in the dining room where I further observe the lodge guests. While the room is mostly full of families—strangely, a large number with disabled children—there are also a few singles which leads me to believe more people have started to arrive for the big event.
Taking a bite of my club sandwich, I once again consider whether I’ll go tonight. Even though I occasionally watchedMidwestern Matchmaker, I never considered auditioning for the show. In retrospect, I guess I was a bit judgy about the whole thing. It’s one thing to be entertained by other people’s struggles, but it’s another to make yourself vulnerable and be the one everyone is watching. Having said that, this gathering won’t be televised, so that alleviates some pressure.
After signing the check for my lunch, I go upstairs to look at my wardrobe to see if I brought any clothes that might be suitable for a mixer. I mostly have pants and sweaters, but only one dress. It’s my emergency black dress that never leaves my suitcase. It’s not the height of fashion. It’s more of an all-purpose number that can be worn to a meeting, a funeral, or if I don’t mind looking borderline Amish, a party.
Picking up the phone, I call the front desk. “Are there any shops in town that carry nice dresses?”
The woman on the end of the line answers, “There’s Bride’s Paradise.”
I unsuccessfully try not to laugh. “I’m not looking for a wedding dress.”
“They carry a lot of other dresses, too. You know, for going to weddings, proms, and such.”
“Do you have a shuttle I can take into town?” I ask. I normally stay at the hotel I’m working for and don’t visit the actual town it’s in, but I don’t want to go to a mixer in pants, and my emergency dress is not going to attract the kind of attention Imightbe looking for. I’m still not fully committed here.
“We have a shuttle that goes into Elk Lake every hour,” she says. “They should be leaving from out front in five minutes.”
