Page 32 of Somebody To Love

He had such a strong face and a confidence about him that I found appealing on so many levels. I had never dated someone like him before. Yeah, he was cocky, handsome and silly, but he also had a quiet strength about him that I liked. For the first time, I was dating a man who I felt I could trust to take care of me. I didn’t mean financially. I just meant in general. If things got tough, I felt Ty would be the type of guy to weather the storm without issue. He seemed to be solid.

Sighing internally, I knew choosing between him and Jean-Bernard was going to be tough. It was my own fault. I shouldn’t have said yes to Ty and now I was in a predicament. There were two men in my life who I genuinely liked.

“So, tell me about all the places you’ve travelled.” His question was a welcomed distraction from my thoughts.

I began to tell him about my trips throughout South America. He listened, leaning in, as if he wanted to know everything. He asked a lot of questions and seemed genuinely interested.

“So why did you come back to the States?”

“I missed home, my friends, and family,” I said simply. “Is your family here?”

“No. It’s just me.”

“No wife and kids sitting around somewhere waiting for you to come home?”

He laughed. “Not that I’m aware of.” He stretched his hands out in front of him and took mine. “Now it’s my turn to ask: Do you have a husband at home? Watching Netflix by himself, with your toddler on his knee waiting for you to come home?”

The image made me laugh. And when I was done, Ty said, “I love hearing you laugh.”

“I laugh a lot when I’m with you.”

“I hope that’s because I’m funny and not just funny looking.”

“A little bit of both,” I teased.

He laughed with me then and I thought again about how easy going he was. My other boyfriends had been so uptight, so sensitive. Ty was a breath of fresh air.

We ordered a couple drinks and a giant plate of nachos and devoured them while talking about nothing in particular. I found out that he was from Washington state. He found out that my brother was a terrible person and was probably on his third or fourth wife somewhere in America or maybe abroad. Who knew?

“Everyone wants to get married,” he commented. “But no one wants to put in the work or effort it takes to make a marriage work.”

“I think some people fall in love with the idea of marriage and forget about the sacrifice it takes.”

“Hmmm…I would say less sacrifice and more compromise.”

I thought about my own parents’ dysfunctional relationship but didn’t want to ruin the night with their sad story. “I think you’re partially right.”

“Partially? Like fifty-six percent right?”

“More like forty-five.”

“That’s mostly wrong then.”

“Yay. You know math.”

He smiled widely and said, “Now that you’ve trampled all over my ego, would you like me to take you home? I know it’s getting late.”

I didn’t want the evening to end, but he was right.

Silently, he took my hand again and led me down the steps back to his car. I slid in when he opened the door for me, on high alert, waiting for him to try to kiss me again, but he didn’t. The sexual tension between us was evident, but Ty made no move to act on it. Like Jean-Bernard, he was determined to be a gentleman.

I was disappointed. I didn’t want a gentleman that night. Or maybe Ty was just a tease.

“You want to come in for a drink?” I asked him when we pulled up in front of my house.

He cut off the engine and turned to me, “Is this the part where you rip off my clothes and have your way with me?”

“Maybe. If you’re lucky.”