This is just a warning that this story is not my usual BTB work. So, if that's what you're looking for you should probably move on. All of the names, details and dialog in this story are completely fictional. But, the bare bones of this story reflect my life.
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It was a typical hot and humid late July day in Charleston, SC as I enjoyed a pleasant lunch with my friend Lisa. I had known Lisa for over twenty years since we were first year teachers together. We were only casual work colleagues until about ten years ago when we were both enrolled in the same program to get our masters of educational administration.
It was during that time when we grew really close as we helped each other through the program and now I would consider her my best friend and I think she considers me hers. We were talking about our summer and our vacations when out of the blue she said "you'll never guess who I ran into at the supermarket last week?"
"God Lisa, you know how I hate to play these guessing games! I have absolutely no idea who you ran into at the supermarket, so why don't you just tell me because I know you're about to die to? Who did you run into last week?"
"Well, I was rounding the corner of an aisle, distracted by my grocery list, when I ran my cart into another cart. So, I looked up and started to apologize when I realized that I was looking at none other than, are you ready for this, your ex, Kevin. I had to do a double take to make sure, but it was definitely him. And I have to say girl, he was looking really good. He doesn't look like he's aged much in the past, what is it, fifteen years?
Back when you two were married, I only met him a few times at work Christmas parties and end of the year cookouts and you were long divorced when we were in our masters program, but I knew it was him instantly when I saw those sexy brown eyes and that killer smile of his.
You probably didn't know it at the time, but we all hated you back then, or at least us single girls did. We were always sooo jealous of you every time you walked into a party with him. Damn Alison! I can't believe that you let that one get away."
"Well, that was obviously not one of my finer moments and for your information, it's actually been 18 years since our divorce. Oh God, just saying that makes me feel old. At any rate, I can't believe he's back after all these years. Maybe he's just visiting his parents, I think they still live here."
"No, it seems that he moved back to town a few weeks ago. He said something about being the new managing partner at his law firm's office here in Charleston. He's in the process of remodeling his parents place out on James Island. From what he was saying, the place was becoming too much for them to manage, so they are moving to one of those retirement communities out in Mt Pleasant and Kevin is moving into their house out on the river."
"Hmm, that's interesting. I haven't heard a word from him since he left town to go to Chicago after our divorce. Even all of our friends gradually lost touch with him too, but the last I heard was at least twelve or thirteen years ago when someone showed me a picture of him and his new wife. She was some kind of doctor, I think. I don't remember a lot about her other than I can remember thinking how beautiful she was and being really angry at how happy they looked." I eventually steered the conversation back to something more pleasant and tried to put Kevin out of my mind.
We finished our lunch and I went back to the school to review the final student and teacher assignments for the coming school year before school starts back next month. As the principle at River View Elementary School, this was one of my least favorite tasks. But, unfortunately, it's part of the job, so I may as well just suck it up and get it over with. It was my first year at River View, so it was taking me a little longer than normal due to not being as familiar with the teachers or students as I was at my previous school. At least it will distract me from all the thoughts running through my head concerning Kevin. I wrapped things up around 5:00 and then headed home, picking up some chicken choy mein from my favorite Chinese restaurant on the way.
I still lived in the little house that Kevin and I had bought when we first got married. During the divorce, he was so hellbent on getting out of town that the last thing he wanted was to be tied down to a house that we had very little equity in. So, he gladly gave me the house in exchange for not contesting the divorce. As I came in the door, I threw my keys on the counter and grabbed a bottle of wine out of the fridge and found the biggest wine glass in the house. I already knew that this was going to be a bottle of wine night, not a glass of wine night. I poured myself a glass and settled in front of the tv with my dinner and tried to distract myself with some mindless show on the Travel Channel.
But my mind kept going back to Kevin and that time in our lives when everything went from seemingly perfect to utterly ruined in a few short months. I couldn't help but feel a lot of responsibility for all that happened back then. I was young and immature in a lot of ways, hell we both were. But, that's really no excuse for the things I did. We both made some really bad choices and unfortunately it was just too much for us to overcome.
Now, all of these years later, he was back in town and it was only a matter of time before I ran into him somewhere. I can only imagine the awkwardness when I have to meet his new wife. I felt inadequate enough just looking at their picture all those years ago and seeing how beautiful she was and hearing that she was a doctor. I have a doctorate too, but somehow it just doesn't seem the same as a medical doctor. What would I say if I ran into them?
As the tv droned on, my mind drifted back to when we first met. I met Kevin Middleton during freshman orientation the summer before we both started college. He was this outgoing, tall, good looking baseball player and I was a fairly cute, if I do say so myself, girl who was really shy and maybe a bit of a tomboy. But, somehow, we connected that weekend and became really close friends.
It was nothing more than that until our junior year when we realized that we were starting to have "feelings" for each other. Even then, it took months for us to go on a real date and then another four dates before we became intimate. We were just such good friends that I think we were both a little hesitant to ruin that until we were sure that what we had was more than just friendship.