*Author's Note: I've been asked hundreds of questions over the years. Some of the most often-asked are: Why is everyone in your stories beautiful? Why is everyone rich? Why does everyone fall in love so fast? And many others.
Not everyone is beautiful. See Plain Jane and Eye of the Beholder.
Not everyone is rich. This story is a good example.
As to love at first sight, that doesn't always happen, either. Where it does, keep in mind these are stories. Free stories, at that. :-)
They're often (at least partially) my fantasies as the only reason I write is for my own enjoyment. I love that others enjoy my work, but I would still write what makes me happy even if that wasn't true. I don't care to spend pages and pages talking about the two or three years it took for them to realize they're in love, and this just works for me. Most of the time, anyway.
Not to get 'deeply philosophical here, but sometimes it just...is what it is.
That said, my sincere thanks to the many readers who've sent me an email since I started writing again to let me know you enjoy my work. My favorites are from folks over 70 who tell me my stories always bring a tear to their eye. From the large number I've received over the years, I'm guessing there are a whole lot of them.
I hope you enjoy this one as it may be one of my favorites!
On that note, if you have a favorite, please let me know. It will be interesting to see if our answers coincide!
*****
Grove City, Ohio
"Let me do this for you. Please?" her best friend asked or rather pleaded.
"Why? I don't want a man who wants me for how I look. I want someone who'll love for me for...me."
"Megyn? Why are you so opposed to even trying something different? For that matter, why is it you can't see the connection between appearance and attraction? You know men think differently than we do. They're visual, and like it or not, appearance matters."
Megyn Cantrell had just turned 35. She'd also recently turned...divorced. Her husband of eight years left her for a 21-year old college student who, according to him, did everything she wouldn't.
When asked what that meant, her ex said, "Look at her. She's everything you're not."
Megyn thought that his reply was circular.
"So she's everything you want because she's everything I'm not. Ah, okay. That makes so much sense," she replied mockingly.
"Yes! Wow, I can't believe you're finally getting it. Why couldn't you understand this years ago when I brought it?"
He'd brought it up many times over the course of their marriage, but she really never knew exactly what he meant by it. It may have been the way she wore her hair or possibly even the way she dressed, but she was raised to be modest, and as she hit 30 the thought of trying to change that seemed absurd. And...wrong. Even more so she was a free spirit. A Bohemian. And she just wasn't going to change that. For anyone.
Now her best friend since high school, Andrea Pace, was essentially telling her that her former husband was right and she was wrong.
"Megyn. I'm not asking you to do something totally radical. Maybe just make a few changes. Or even one at a time."
"Such as?" Megyn asked, the annoyance she felt showing up in the way she said it.
"Look. You're very pretty," Andrea began which brought a 'ha!' from Megyn.
"You are!" Andrea insisted. "You're freaking beautiful, for crying out loud."
"Right. I'm so attractive that my husband left me."
Megyn was getting very frustrated and let it show.
"I'm also intelligent, Andrea. If men can't see that, I don't want to go out with them anyway."
"You are. You're very smart. Lord knows I wish I had half your brains, or for that matter, your looks. But Meg, that's what kills me. You're really, really smart, but for some reason you're not smart enough to put two and two together."
Now both hurt and offended Megyn let it fly.
"I have NO interest attracting shallow, sex-crazed men who only want one thing from a woman. I want someone who'll recognize my better qualities and love me for them, not for the way I look!"
Andrea had only seen Megyn this angry once before, and it was nearly two years ago when she found out about the college 'bimbo' her husband was having an affair with. She decided to tread lightly and try one more thing before giving up.
"Megyn. The thing I think you're missing is that in order to find anyone to love you, you first have to...attract...them. And I'm just saying that if you made a few small changes--mostly cosmetic changes--you'd be like...some kind of...man magnet."
Megyn had a solid background in science to include physics, and when she thought about herself being magnetized with the ability to literally drag men to her from across a room, she laughed.
"What? Why is that so funny?" Andrea, who was now also hurt, asked defensively.
Megyn's countenance softened and she spoke politely but didn't explain the laugh.
"Okay, okay. I'll think about it. I'm not making any promises, but I promise I'll consider what you said."
"Really? You're serious?"
"Hey, I've been alone for over a year and my ex was 'doing' his new girl-toy for a year before that, and I have to admit I'm...kind of...lonely."
It was hard for Megyn to admit that, but it was true. She wasn't just lonely. She often ached for a man's love. She just couldn't get herself to believe that changing her hair or clothes was the way to find it. It was all so...superficial.
She knew she was still, what did Andrea say? Oh. Pretty. She had long, straight, light-brown hair and a what some called a killer figure. She didn't even have any wrinkles around her eyes and people often took her for being in her late 20s. But she really loved the Bohemian look she'd adopted in high school. It worked for her, and the thought of letting it go was scary.
Or at least it had worked for her. Now, after hearing the same thing from her best friend she had to admit that maybe it wasn't working anymore. The question was whether or not she could make these changes and still be true to herself.
"Oh, honey!" Andrea said sympathetically after hearing Megyn admit she was lonely. "Come here!"
She gave her dearest friend a hug and told her she loved her.
"I love you, too, and I'm sorry I was nasty. I just...."
"It's okay. Change isn't easy. But sometimes it's essential."
"Yeah. Maybe so," Megyn kind of admitted although somewhat reluctantly.
"All I can ask is that you'll give it some thought," Andrea said as she let go.
"I will. I promise."
And with that the two 35-year old women moved on to a less controversial topic as they got ready to go out for lunch.
Megyn seemed distracted, and there were a few times when Andrea had to ask her if she'd heard what she'd just said. Megyn would come out of her 'state' then say, "Sorry. What was that?"
After they finished eating, Megyn surprised her by asking if they could stop by the mall on the way home.