"I know he's cute, but he's always got...gunk...under his nails. That's disgusting!"
"Honey, he works in an auto repair shop and it's not as though he doesn't try and keep them clean. He works hard and he loves what he does. And...he's loved you since high school. And you know what? I can't help but believe you still love him, too."
"People change, mother," her daughter said with her typical dose of exasperation.
"Maybe they do. But I believe it's more accurate to say 'leopards don't change their spots'."
"I'm not a cat. Besides, maybe I want more than that."
"More than love? What else is there, honey?"
"Oh, I don't know, Mom. Let's see. How about...money? How about owning a beautiful house. How about..."
"Aria, he's 25, the same age you are. Don't get upset with me, but aren't you still living at home while you set the bar so much higher for Jessie?"
"Ughh!! You see, this is why I don't even try and talk to you about this kind of stuff anymore. You have all these ridiculous, outdated ideas about everything and you don't even listen!"
Her daughter stormed off the way she'd done a hundred times before and Lindsay Hammond just sighed. The only thing that surprised her was how she didn't throw the divorce in her face. "She must be saving it for later," Lindsay thought to herself. It wasn't like Aria to pass up an opportunity to say something snide or sarcastic. No, it was just a matter of time before she brought it up again.
She really did love her daughter in spite of her moods, the attitude, and her immaturity. Somewhere deep inside was a caring soul; a kind heart; a young woman who loved deeply and who could give back in return. Lately though, Lindsay wondered how deeply that other woman was buried and whether or not any power on earth could find her.
How Aria Hammond had managed to graduate from college was one of life's unsolved mysteries in Lindsay's world. Her father had footed the bill long after he'd moved out following his long-overdue revelation he was gay. Aria had failed several courses because partying and fun were far more important than studying and good grades, but her father was always there providing cover for his princess.
Aria didn't really appreciate her father's help, she just expected it and took it for granted. After he moved out, she'd used his departure to her advantage at every turn inflicting huge amounts of guilt and pain on her mother; her mother who'd never cheated or done anything to deserve being left after 20 years of marriage. It wasn't her fault and Aria knew it, but that never stopped her from blaming her mom for Daddy's absence. Daddy was Harold Hammond, who now lived with his much younger lover, Jacob, in a penthouse apartment in downtown Seattle.
Lindsay had suspected something was seriously wrong since the honeymoon, but having never known a gay man in her life, she had no idea what she was seeing—and missing—right under her own nose. Her now ex-husband, Harold, had never been a good lover or anything even close, but he'd always been so sweet and so very romantic. His love of poetry and literature had inspired her when she met him a couple of years after she'd graduated from college and was the reason she still loved them to this day. As if those things weren't enough, he was also such a good-looking man that she'd fallen hard for him on their first date and never looked back.
Looking back now however, all the clues had been there all along. He was fastidious in the extreme with regard to the way he dressed, often caring more about what he wore and how he looked than she had, and Lindsay had always been very well put-together. He had a fantastic sense of style and selected not only his own clothes but hers as well, and Lindsay often thought she couldn't have done better had she bought them herself. In fact, once they had enough money to buy nicer things, no one in their circle of friends was better dressed than Lindsay Hammond. Except for her husband, Harold.
Harold wasn't overtly flamboyant, but the way he annunciated his words with such precision along with some of his mannerisms all taken together with everything else going on should have clued her in. But love (or naïveté) often really is blind, and his constant attention and the way he doted on her outside of the bedroom was almost enough to make up for their lack of anything close to a love life.
When he'd brought Lindsay home just a month after meeting her, his parents were both thrilled beyond words. She was charming, intelligent, and stunningly beautiful. When she accepted his proposal three months later, they took her in like the daughter they'd never had. They were beginning to think their then-30-year old son might never marry or give them a grandchild. Aria had been conceived on their honeymoon to Niagara Falls, a trip provided by his very well-to-do parents who couldn't have been more happy to learn they would finally be grandparents!
How could they—or Lindsay—know she was the perfect prop for a gay man who hadn't yet come to grips with the fact he preferred men when Harold himself didn't yet know it? He'd worked incredibly hard spending long hours at his father's law firm earning his way to junior partner then senior partner and upon his father's death, managing partner. Lindsay had happily stayed at home and raised their daughter whom her husband spoiled well beyond rotten.
Aria was his little princess who could do no wrong and Harold did nothing but make one excuse after another for her endless string of caustic remarks and biting sarcasm, always laughing it off as being just a phase. A phase that had lasted some 23 years to be exact if one didn't count the first two years of her life. Aria was still a spoiled brat, but she was Lindsay's spoiled brat, and her mother herself excused a lot of her daughter's recent behaviour knowing Aria was still hurting even though she'd never admit it.
Aria loved Jessie Coleman. There was no doubt about it. But two things prevented her from loving him back. Her perceived need for more money and status was one. The other was his love of all things outdoors. Bicycling was his passion but he loved hiking, camping, skiing, scuba diving, and anything else that got him out of the house. He was also a college graduate, but unlike Aria, Jessie was incredibly smart. He'd graduated summa cum laude with a degree in business but preferred working with his hands. Aria, on the other hand, would be happy to never set foot outside her home unless it was to go shopping with her father's credit cards. Yet in spite of all her flaws and a personality that would scare off any sane man, Jessie still carried a torch for her and Lindsay thought he probably always would.
Jessie also came from a rather wealthy family, but unlike Aria, he'd rejected his parents' wealth and status. He'd dutifully gone to college as had Aria, but unlike her, he was there for reason and one reason only—to be near the girl he loved. He worked both hard and smart trying to impress her and was always there to help her study or write some paper and she was all too happy to let him do it. In reality, that meant Jessie writing the paper and doing the project himself with Aria taking the credit. Even so, Aria had the uncanny ability to blow every quiz and test thus turning Jessie's As into Cs or Ds for an overall grade.
Aria had fallen for him when they were in prep school and began dating their sophomore year. As long as he wore the right things and attended the right events, Aria was happy to be seen on his arm. She loved the jealous looks she got from other girls her age, as well as the endless compliments she routinely received from older, well-off women. "You two make such a perfect couple! You two should be front and center on the society page every week!" Aria was in her element while Jessie endured it for her sake.
But when Jessie's free spirit won out over the buttoned-down lifestyle planned and expected of him, Aria could no longer stand to be seen with him. Lindsay knew she still loved him, but it was clear she was also ashamed of him. After graduating from college, he'd gone on a cross-country bicycle ride starting in Seattle and ending up in Maine. When he got home, he took a job working on cars at a Midas auto repair shop in Everett, which is just a few miles from Seattle, very near where all of them still lived. The thought of dating let alone marrying...an auto mechanic...was more than Aria could abide.
Recently, Aria had been seeing someone else from her 'acceptable' circle of friends and she was doing her best to convince herself (and her mother) he could be the one. Lindsay knew better and she was determined to either get her back together with Jessie of find a man who was intelligent, reasonably-well pedigreed and patient enough to put up with her daughter. Yes, he'd also have to earn enough money that she couldn't reject him on those grounds, too, and although she knew it was a tall order to fill, Lindsay was bound and determined to fill it.
She'd recently created a dating profile for her daughter without her knowledge and had been corresponding with a very nice-looking man who was a quite a bit older than Aria but still close enough to her age to hopefully not scare her away. He was 33 and worked as an engineer for the Boeing Aircraft Company in Everett and lived just outside the city in a very nice home. He was single—never married, actually—handsome, well-educated, and he loved many of the finer things in life such as art, poetry, and classical music. Most importantly, he was as calm and easy-going as the day is long and seemed to have the kind of type-B personality needed to withstand the onslaught of caustic remarks from her daughter.
All of their correspondence had been by email up to this point, and to keep him interested, Lindsay would send him a photo or two of Aria with each new reply. Like her, Aria was a very attractive young woman most men described as 'hot.' That term wasn't in vogue when Lindsay was 25, but for a woman who'd was turning 50 this week but who still looked 35 (and was often mistaken for Aria's sister by those who didn't know them), Lindsay was the kind of woman who still turned male heads of all ages.
Five years into the divorce and dozens of failed dates in its wake, Lindsay had given up on trying to find another husband, and she was okay with that for the time being. She had her hobbies and interests as well as her daughter and several close friends. So for now she was...content.
Financially, she lacked for nothing. In fact, there was no area of life where she went without with the exception of the kind of intimacy that only comes from a close relationship with the right person. Lindsay had put that on hold but once she'd found Mr. Right for her daughter, she could then focus on finding him for herself. One step at time and one day at time was her current approach to life and to relationships.
Lindsay had always craved a warm, deep, loving relationship but had so far never experienced it and although she'd put it on the back burner for a while, it was the one thing she wanted in life more than any other. So yes, it could wait, but it couldn't wait forever. Right now her focus was on her daughter and she was on the verge of inviting this gorgeous younger man to her home to meet her. Okay, 'her' meant Aria, but she would also have the opportunity to meet him in person and size him up in real time. If he really was the kind of man she was already reasonably sure he was, Aria would just need some gentle persuasion to see what a great husband he would make. Well, the persuasion might need to be more than gentle, but Lindsay was sure she could make this secret matchmaking scheme of hers work.
If she couldn't get Aria to get back together with Jessie, then this Peter fellow, this...Pete Sullivan, as he preferred to be called...would make a wonderful husband for her daughter and with any luck, he might even being able to tame the shrew know as Aria Hammond. After all, the last thing Aria needed was to marry one of these hollow, phony, prepsters like the guy she'd been seeing who were as shallow as her own daughter. They were nearly all cut from the same cloth and Aria would left at home alone or forced to bury herself in her own career to compensate for the long, lonely days and empty, loveless nights as business and money and status always took center stage with them.
Now that Aria had stormed off, Lindsay was free to head to the large study and open the laptop on her desk. As soon as she did, the first thing she checked was Aria's profile to see if Pete...she hated that he shortened his name...had responded to her last reply and the new photos she'd attached.
"Ah-hah!" she said finding what she was looking for. There was a very nice reply complete with yet another romantic poem and a picture of himself barbecuing with his family. By this point Lindsay knew the names of his parents as well as his older brother, Ed, and his younger sister, Hannah. Pete was grilling food and had smiled for the shot.
