Kathy took a sip of wine and looked at the clock on the wall. It was one o'clock on Saturday. She did not normally drink this early and alone, but this was a special occasion. She stared at the thin red box on the coffee table. She had received it last Saturday. She had received many others over the years. Usually they were received with great delight. This one was different. This was not a happy one.
She picked up the box and went into her bedroom. She placed the box on the bed and opened her closet. She rummaged through the shoes and boxes of keepsakes she kept on the floor in the rear of her closet until she found shoe box sized plastic case. She opened the lid and saw the row of boxes inside. There were many white boxes, two were silver, one gold, four blue and one black box. She placed the red box at the rear of the line of thin boxes in the shoe box. She wondered why she kept the box and the contents inside. For some reason she could never part with them.
Randomly she picked up the third box and opened it. The contents of which were a card and a CD. She slipped the CD into a player and the tender melody of "When I Fall in Love by the Lettermen" came out of the speakers. She picked up the card and read what was written on it. The card did not say who it was from or to whom it was given. There was no need for it. She knew who had sent it to her.
She had received it at her work along with a large bouquet of flowers. All the girls in the office gathered around Kathy to see who sent her such a beautiful arrangement. She smiled confidently as she opened the box, took out the CD and slipped it into the player on her desk. The girls started teasing Kathy. Who is this guy sending you flowers and love songs at work? Some wanted to know what was on the card that came with the letter. Kathy waited for the appropriate part of the song to start reciting what was on the card. When the right place in the song came she started to read:
"WHEN I GIVE MY HEART
I GIVE IT COMPLETELY
OR I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE
AND THE MOMENT I CAN FEEL THAT
YOU FEEL THAT WAY TOO
IS WHEN I FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU"
The girls got quiet while she read the words printed on the card. When she was done and the music stopped the girls started in again.
One coworker named Grace said "This is a special guy. I'm jealous. Does he have a brother?"
As Kathy was once more listening to the music she looked up to see Grace absentmindedly moving the flowers about. She quietly commented to Kathy "You have received a wonderful gift today, from a special man."
"Thank you; the flowers are beautiful aren't they? replied Kathy. Grace looked at her surprised and was about to speak, instead she turned and walked away.
On it went till the girls finally went back to work. Kathy for the first time thought that maybe she did have something special. She was sure it would be if it weren't for John Williams.
John was her first love. He was her first boyfriend. He was the boy who took her to the prom. He was the boy who took her virginity when she was a junior in high school. They made love all the way through the last two years of high school. The last time was the night before he left to go to college. He was always in the back of her mind. He always had a little piece of her heart that made it impossible to commit to another man completely.
After graduation John went to Stanford in California to study medicine. Kathy went to a community college in her home state of Florida. At first they exchanged phone calls and letters. After a while the letters stopped and the phone calls became less frequent to be replaced by emails. Soon the emails ended as well.
After a while Kathy dropped out of school and took a job with Allstate Insurance Company. Now she worked 9 to 5 sitting at a computer. She answered phones, sold insurance, typed letters and any other duties that fell her way. Her day consisted of the same routine. Get up go to work and come home. It was not satisfying but it paid the bills.
The only relief was her nights out with her friend Lisa. She kept hoping to hear from John. Then she heard from some of Johns friends that he was dating a pre med student at college. She now knew why all contact had been broken off. For weeks she was depressed and cried herself to sleep every night.
Yet she still had a dream of what could have been. What would her life be like if John came back? She still had expectations of her knight in white armor returning to sweep Kathy out of her boring existence to enjoy the life of a doctor's wife. Kathy would then become Mrs. Dr. John Williams. She let her fantasy life as well as her real life self esteem center around John Williams. He became almost a mythological figure that no mere human could match. As weeks became months and John did not return she tried to put him out of her mind and move on, yet even if she did not realize it, he was always there.
Kathy had always been an attractive girl. Not a beauty in a classic sense, but she had an earthy sensuality that drew men to her. Even when she was dating John, it did not stop other boys from trying to hit on her. She stood five foot five inches tall. She had long brown hair, usually parted down the middle of her head and flipped back towards her face just under her chin. She possessed flawless olive colored skin with brown eyes that sparkled when she laughed and belied her Italian heritage. Her breasts were a full 34C and she liked to wear low cut tops that showed lots of cleavage. She was a little thick through the waist and her butt was a tad small. Long lean dancer's legs finished off the package. When viewed together it was a very enjoyable sight.
After she was sure that John was out of her life for good she had a number of relationships with men. Only one turned sexual and lasted for five months before she broke it off. Incredibly she felt guilty, as she was still carrying a torch for John. Her guilt over what she considered cheating broke up most of her relationships with men. Her reputation was not that of an "easy" score.
She was twenty five years old when she met Tom. He was not like all the other men she had dated in the past. Tom had enlisted in the Army when he was 18. Six years later, including one tour each in Iraq, Germany and Afghanistan in that order, he separated from the military. He was an infantryman and had seen his share of action. Upon returning home to Florida he opened a small automotive repair shop not too far from Kathy's work.
Tom thought it was Kismet when he saw Kathy and her dancers legs walk into the shop. He was sitting behind his desk in his office at the rear of the shop and she did not see him. She was with her best friend Lisa who she had driven to work that morning. She had on a white low cut top with black polka dots. A short black mini skirt and black high heels finished her look. Tom was mesmerized. He had never seen a woman as exquisite as this.
