"But why? I make really good money. Why would you want to try something so risky and jeopardize our future?" he asked in that quasi-patronizing tone of voice she despised.
"I know you do. You're very talented. I was just thinking how good it would feel to own my own business," she replied politely not wanting to start another argument.
"A food truck isn't exactly a business, sweetheart," he informed her. "It's...a hobby. A very expensive hobby; a black hole for cash, as it were. Let's be honest here, shall we? The truth is, you'd never be able to turn a profit. Have you even thought about what's involved to just get started? You've got to buy the vehicle, repair it, modify it, get it inspected, find suppliers, comply with endless regulations, and build a customer base. And most importantly, you have no experience with that kind of thing."
He actually patted her on the hand and said, "You need to be realistic."
Reese Evans had been dating him for a little over a year. After her divorce two years ago, Albert had been the kind of stabilizing force she'd needed in her life. Her marriage had been a rocky, turbulent, free-for-all kind of ride, and when she was in her early 20s it had been a helluva lot of fun. Her ex-husband could never get serious about anything or stick with it. He'd been dead broke when she met him and they were dead broke when she left him. He'd just been so handsome and so much fun to be around and yes, a little bit dangerous, that she'd gone ahead and married him knowing what she was in for.
As the years went by, Reese found living paycheck to paycheck anything but fun. Most of the time, they lived without a paycheck unless one considered occasionally collecting unemployment 'making money'. Through it all she'd done everything she could to be supportive, but she got little to nothing in return except for empty promises. No, that wasn't completely true. She had to admit the sex had been nothing short of amazing, but other than that there wasn't a diamond in the goat's ass to found no matter how bright a light was shined up in there. It was all nothing but...shit.
During all those years, she'd worked very hard to keep herself in shape, and although they didn't have the money for the kinds of classes she wanted to take, she did aerobics and yoga at home for the cost of a mat and free music on her radio. And today she still looked incredible and always turned a lot heads anywhere she went.
After getting sick of always being broke, she went to work waiting tables to help out and just before her marriage ended, she found work in a bakery (which was really a pastry shop), and for the first time, Reese felt good about herself.
She kept trying to work on her marriage, but after asking her husband over and over to stick with something—anything—and his refusal to do so, she finally worked up the courage to leave him. It was embarrassing to have to move back in with her mother, but until she could put enough money away for her own place, she really had no other choice.
To her mother's credit, she never once said, "I told you so" even though she could have done that, and Reese wouldn't have been able to argue with her. Two years later she was still living at home, and had saved up more money than she ever thought possible. It wasn't enough for a downpayment on a home, but then she didn't need a home yet. But she had put away more than enough to buy a food truck, and she had been excited to share her dream with her boyfriend.
Looking back, when Reese met Albert Adams, a buttoned-down, rather staid, almost stoic, assistant bank manager in the city of Renton, Washington, where they both lived, he'd been exactly what she'd needed in her life. He wasn't gorgeous, but he was a little above-average looking, dressed nicely, spoiled her rotten, and treated her very well with one exception. One very major exception. He made her feel like she was incapable of making a sound decision on her own. The worst part about it had been that most of the time, he'd been right. Reese couldn't help but think it was a residual effect from having lived with a man who had had one bad idea after the other for over the entire twelve long years of her failed marriage.
But she also knew there were some things she was good at, and having worked as a local pastry chef's righthand...person...for the last couple of years, she felt very good about her ability to deal with customers and even run a business. The chef had not only taught her an incredible amount about baking in general, he'd also helped her understand the business end of things. She finally had enough money to make her dream a reality, but Albert had just dumped all over it the way he always did.
The chef was an older man of about 45 named Norm, and Reese could tell he thought she was a very attractive woman, and went out of his way to be nice to her. At 35, it was no secret that Reese still was a very attractive woman. Norm had never crossed any lines, but she knew he was more than a little bit interested, and once he'd even casually mentioned that if she ever got tired of the 'suit', his nickname for Albert, he would like nothing more than to be able to take her to dinner somewhere nice.
She'd never thought of him 'that way', but as she sat there covered in the aftermath of Albert's patronizing comments, Norm seemed like another reasonably safe (but better) alternative to the one she was dating now. He, at least, never talked down to her or made her feel childish.
Reese longed to be with someone who would not only provide some level of stability, but someone who would love her the same way she wanted to love a man and who would willingly support her dreams. Norm wasn't exactly handsome, but he was one of the nicest people she'd ever met, and right about now, that looked very appealing.
She finally looked Albert in the eyes and said, trying not to get angry or emotional, "Realistic, huh? I need to be...realistic? You know very well my marriage was nothing but non-stop chaos, Albert, and I am truly grateful for the stability you've given me. I desperately needed the kind of grounding you've provided. But I don't appreciate the way you talk to me like...like I'm some kind of child."
"Sweetheart. Don't be so melodramatic," he said theatrically with that smug smile of his. "You're not a child. You just need...a little guidance...that's all."
"Guidance? I need guidance? What, from someone who's risen all the way to assistant manager at a local bank after fifteen years of working there?" she said letting the sarcasm spill out. She hated doing that, but lately it had been building up to the point where it was inevitable it would come out, and his last comment was the proverbial straw that had broken the camel's back.
She had to admit he really was a smart guy at least in terms of formal education and being book smart. He had a degree in finance, and he was also very well read on a wide range of subjects. Along with the things she'd already mentally ticked off, those were the only positives she could come up with.
On the negative side, he was condescending to the point of being haughty, and unlike her former husband, he was at best average in bed. That was yet one more thing Reese had been willing to live with until her life stopped swirling around to the point of feeling seasick, but she was now well beyond that point. She'd had stability in spades, and the last thing she needed was more stability. This level of stability, she knew, was almost as bad as chaos, and when she added in the heavy dose of patronization, she also knew it was no longer worth it.
"I don't know everything, Albert. In fact, I probably know very few things. Unlike you, I barely graduated from high school. Unlike you, I didn't have a detailed plan for my life. Unlike you, I've had more than my share of self-inflicted problems. But one thing I do know is I'm done with being talked down to by some...some condescending, sanctimonious, supercilious, know-it-all who walks around with a stick up his ass all day!" she told him her voice rising with each word until she was yelling at the top of her lungs by the time she finished.
Every patron in the restaurant heard every word as did most of the staff in the back, all of whom had stopped working to listen in.
"Now Reese. There you go getting all hysterical again," he said calmly with that plastic smile she'd begun hating a month or two ago. "You just need to jettison this silly...idea of yours and come back down to earth."
For the first time since she'd met him she felt truly angry. She'd been annoyed with him dozens of times, but she'd never been angry before.
No longer caring where she was or who heard her, she said even louder than before, "No, the only thing I need to jettison is you, you smug, self-righteous...prick!"
Reese grabbed the linen napkin in her lap, stood up, and threw it in his face before picking up her purse and storming out shaking from head to toe. She was so angry she didn't hear two women start clapping in support on her way out.
As she stood there in the cold night air looking left then right, not knowing which way to go or what to do, it felt like a metaphor for her entire life. She'd gone overboard to the left with her lazy, do-nothing husband and way too far to the right with the 'suit'.
"Now what?" she asked herself before realizing she was freezing cold and didn't even have a coat.
"That was quite a performance," she heard a male voice say from behind her startling her out of her thoughts.
"Please don't tell me you heard that," she said as she turned around and saw a tall, very young looking man.
"Um...I think pretty much everyone heard that. Yeah, you see, I was in the back and I heard it loud and clear so..."
"Oh, my goodness. I am so sorry. I'm just so sick of being talked down to like I'm a child or something. Who does that to another person anyway?" she asked.
"Ummm. Control freaks? People who are insecure? Assholes?" he suggested rhetorically.
The last one made her laugh, but it came out garbled because she was already shivering.
"Here," he said pulling off his coat.
"No. I can't. You don't even know me, and I definitely don't know you," she said even as she thought how warm the coat looked.
"Well, if you told me your name then I'd know you, and you could take my coat," he said with a smile.
She looked him up and down twice then said reservedly, "I'm Reese Evans."
He laughed then told her, "That is just too funny. I'm Darin...Reese," as he draped the jacket over her shoulders.
"Darin. That's not a name you hear a lot," she said as she continued to shiver.
