Thank you to my excellent editor.
*
I looked across the table at the thirty-something Korean woman sitting with me. Her name was Mee-Yon but she went by May. She was more than pretty with the classic Korean look. Her eyes were beautiful with a gentle slant and deep brown color that drew you in and made you never want to look away. Her hair, styled in a short pixie cut, beautifully accented the delicate features of her face. A small, perfectly formed, nose sat over a small, but exquisitely beautiful and exceptionally kissable set of lips. She was very petite, maybe five feet tall at the most, and I was sure she couldn't weigh more than a hundred pounds. She was wearing a white pull over blouse with a conservative cut. It wasn't high fashion but it clung well enough to accent her small breasts. Snug black faux leather pants clung to her hips accentuating her movement as she walked. I was quickly falling for this Asian angel. And then she smiled. I swear my heart actually skipped a beat.
"Tell me about you." Her voice was rich and full, not deep or husky, but not high pitched either. Her eyes sparkled with mischievous joy. She wove her fingers together and put them under her chin as she leaned forward.
"I'd rather hear about you. You fascinate me," I said. Wow, that sounded cheesy but she seemed to like it.
"Me? Not much to say. I was born in Seoul. I came to America to marry a man named Frank Lister. I was married to him for five years. We lived in San Francisco. Then he divorced me. My friend Chung-He bought me tickets to come to Dallas. I've only been here for three days. Chung-He has been very nice. His wife is nice too."
Her voice was mesmerizing and it was a few seconds before I realized she had stopped talking and was just looking at me. Before I got my brain back into first gear, I blurted out. "Why would your husband divorce you?" I instantly wanted it back. It was absolutely the wrong thing to say, and I hadn't meant it the way it sounded. I just could not fathom why any sane human being would ever not want to be around May. I had only known her for less than an hour, but I was truly smitten.
Her laugh allowed me to breathe again. "He said I wasn't what he wanted." She looked down and the smile slid from her face. "I am not a good woman." She turned her head away from me. She had gone from a laugh to nearly crying in a short moment. "I'm sorry. You can take me back to Chung-He. You don't have to stay here. No one wants a divorced woman."
"I don't want to take you back." I reached across the table and gently turned her face back toward me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'll take you home if you want, but I really want you to stay."
With typical waitress intuition, our waitress arrived with our appetizer at just that moment. As she sat the plate of Texas Cheese Fries down on our table, she looked from May to me and I swear that if looks could kill, I would have been instantly stone cold dead. I ignored her, pushed the fries to the side, and took May's hands in mine.
"May, you are the most beautiful and the most interesting woman I have ever met. Please stay and enjoy the night. I want to know everything about you that you are willing to share. If I cross that line, just tell me. I won't push."
That thawed out the waitress a little before she walked away and it brought a small smile to May's face. That small smile was like the sun rising after a two-week night. It warmed my soul and I never wanted to lose it.
May took a deep breath. "Alan, I like you. You deserve to know about me." She paused and looked down at my hands holding hers and then looked back up at me. There was a catch in her voice as she spoke. "When I was in Korea, I disgraced my family. My mother disowned me. My father was hurt deeply. He still loved me, but he had to get me out of Korea. He found a mail order bride internet site and gave me to Frank Lister. Frank Lister wanted a slave. He wanted a maid to pick up his socks, do his dishes, and make his meals. I was not the demure slave he wanted. He kicked me out."
It was a very good thing that Frank Lister lived in San Francisco. I've never hurt anyone in my life but I might not have been able to stop myself from making him the first. But for now, all I wanted was to get the smile back on May's beautiful face.
"Well, you are in Texas now. We know how to treat beautiful ladies down here and I assure you that I like women and I'm not looking for a slave." I gave her my best smile and she smiled back.
May squeezed my hands and then pulled away. "May we eat? I've never had Texas cheese fries." She was giving the fries a look that I wished she would give me.
As we ate we talked about other things, safer things like what we enjoyed, and the difference in culture between California and Texas.
"Texas is so friendly. Everyone in Texas smiles." May said between small bites.
I could never imagine anyone not smiling at this woman. "Southern hospitality." I grinned at her.
"I don't want to go back to California, but I have nothing here. I have nothing there either." The smile was gone again and I began to understand a little of what Charley, as we called Chung-He at the software company we both worked for, meant when he had told me about May. My mind flashed back to that conversation. Charley had come into my office. "Alan, may I talk to you?"
"Certainly, have a seat." I had thought it would be work related and I really hoped he had not found another job. The software industry in Dallas is highly competitive and Daltech had lost too many good software engineers to other companies lately.
"You have been divorced for over a year now."
"Yeah..." Okay, definitely not work related.
"I have a friend staying with us for a few days. I would like you to take her out Friday. It doesn't have to be much, but it would make her feel better."
A blind date, on Valentine's Day. Yeah that's what every man wants. "Charley, I'm not sure that is a good idea."
"She is not a good girl. She is not high class but you will like her. You don't have to treat her like a lady. You are Texan. You will like her."
Charley's English is sometimes odd and to keep from being offended I attributed what he had said to his English skills.
"Charley Friday is Valentine's Day. Women don't want to go out with a stranger on Valentine's Day. They want flowers, wine, and romance. I was married for twenty years. I don't know how to do romance."
"May is different. She doesn't need romance, just a friend. My wife and I want a nice night at home."
The light came on. I was going to be a baby sitter so that Charley and his wife could have an intimate evening together.
"Um, how long do I need to keep her out?"
"Oh, as long as you want. She will be good company. She will be good for you." Charley was all smiles.
So I agreed to take May out, mainly to keep Charley happy. Now I was sitting with this woman and I wanted nothing more than to never leave her company again. I smiled at May. "You have friends here. That is something."
"Chung-He is a friend of my father. He feels obligated to help me since my father died two years ago."
"I'm sorry." Damn, it seemed that every direction I went led to sadness for May.
"It only hurts when I think about it. I loved my father very much." She smiled again. "He was a good man. He was sad when he sent me away. Not his fault. No man in Korea wanted me so I came to America."
How could no man in Korea want her? Better question, how could I get her to smile again? "Oh, I got you a valentine card." I took the card out of my jacket pocket and passed it to her. I had spent a long time trying to find a good valentine card for a blind date. It isn't easy. I hadn't known anything about May other than that she was Korean and Charley did not really think very highly of her. I couldn't understand that at all. She was funny and although her life seemed full of pain, she still smiled. And she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life.
May read the card and she laughed. It was a humorous card. Hey when you don't know which way to go, always go for the laugh, right?
"You're a good man."
It occurred to me, her English was very good, much better than Charley's. "Where did you learn English so well?"
"Frank Lister made me practice. He didn't want to hear a Korean accent. He made me get my American Citizenship too. He didn't want a Korean wife."
I just shook my head. Frank was a piece of shit and he needed his ass kicked. Oh well, not much I could do right then. "You're away from him now. No need to worry about him ever again."
May looked down again and tears brimmed in her eyes. "I am disgraced in Korea and now I'm disgraced by him here."