It was a clear and pleasant afternoon when I headed for my job with a catering company. "It'll be a nice evening for an outdoor show" I thought to myself as I drove to meet the rest of my co-workers. The show was in York, which was an hour away, but I was excited because the performer was Toby Keith, and since I loved country music, I hoped that after we finished catering the dinner for the band and crew, I might catch some of the show.
We arrived about 1 pm and began setting up. I looked around, but saw no sign of Toby or his band yet. When it came time to serve, he and his band arrived. "Wow!" I thought to myself, "he's HUGE!" Standing 6'4" and probably about 230 lbs, he towered over almost everyone else around him.
I was putting the finishing touches on the tables when I looked up and noticed him looking right at me! He smiled and winked, melting me to the point where my knees almost gave out on me on the spot. "Man, it's too bad he's married..." I thought to myself as I regained my composure and continued with my duties.
Everyone was enjoying the meal and chatting amongst themselves, and I decided to go around asking if anyone needed refills on their drinks. I got to Toby's table and I asked if anyone needed anything. He looked up at me and said "I guess you're not on the menu, are you?" I was half flustered and half upset, because I remembered this guy was married, and I wasn't about to be anyone's mistress. I replied rudely "A married man shouldn't be talking like that!" and walked away.
"It's probably none of my business, but I just don't understand how people can act like that when they have a family at home....I may have over-stepped my bounds, and I might get in trouble for it, but I don't care." I said to Cindy, one of the other caterers. Cindy said "Yeah, but IS he married? I don't see a ring." "yes, as far as I remember, he is." I replied back to her.
The dinner was over and we were cleaning up when I spotted one of the band members walking up to me. He said "Hey, I understand why you reacted the way you did, but just for the record, Toby's been divorced almost a year now." I felt the redness begin in my throat and work it's way up to my face as I said "You're kidding...oh my God, I am so sorry..I didn't know that." Then he said "And also, I've never seen him outrageously flirt with anyone like that before..he hasn't dated anyone since the divorce." "How do I apologize to him?" I asked. "You can do it right now" he said as he motioned behind me. I turned around and he was walking through the corridor that led to the dressing rooms backstage. He saw me looking at him and came toward me. "I owe you an apology" I said, stammering my words as I motioned over to the guy I just talked to, "he told me everything, and I can't say enough how sorry I am. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, please let me know." "What are you doing after the show?" he replied. My heart almost jumped out of my chest. "Nothing really, I live about an hour from here, so I was just going to head home..." "How about going out for coffee or something later?" My heart was pounding out of control by now as I said "yeah, sure...ok" Grinning like an idiot at the same time. He went over to his road manager and filled him in and told him to look for me after the show. He looked at me and smiled and said "sure, I'll do that" and then mumbled something else to Toby, which he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He came back over to me and said "cool, then it's a date?" I said "sure" He said "I'll see you after the show then" he reached down and squeezed my hand, smiled and walked away.
I went back to the dining area and helped finish cleaning up, my mind definitely not on what I was doing, because I threw away the candlestick holders and the silverware when I heard Cindy shout "GINNY, what are you doing?!?!" She laughed and said "I know what your problem is, I saw you talking to him, what happened?" I told her we were going out for coffee later and she said "NO WAY!!!" All I could do was smile.
"Are we done here? I REALLY need a cigarette right now." I said after putting the last of the equipment in the truck. I had quit a few months earlier, but up until now, I hadn't had a situation come up that I needed one to calm down. She laughed and said "yeah, let's go."
After our break we finished everything else, changed out of our messy uniforms, and stood backstage and watched the show, which was excellent. But of course I couldn't wait till it was over.