Page 37 of Here You Are

I watched him get in his car and drive away. I engaged in a self-high-five and shut the door. We had an awkward situation, but I was honest and ended the situationship with grace. Damn, I'm a real ass adult now.

Chapter 14

May 5, 2018

I’ve been working on setting up an outdoor space at the front of my house so I can work outside when it is nice and also be on neighborhood watch. My neighborhood consists mostly of married couples with older kids, so it is typically pretty quiet until the Johnsons’ corgi, Tina, shits in the widow Jenkins yard and she loses her mind. They bring their doggie bags and pick it up, but she still doesn’t want any “dung particles” on her grass.

I noticed a moving truck at the house across the street, to the north of the Widow Jenkins. The house had been empty for a while. I noticed the price drop, since I am an active real estate watcher, so it must have finally sold. There are about a million boxes, and they all say “toys,” which leads me to believe there are kids moving in or someone has a really big nightstand drawer.

I saw a middle-aged-looking guy talking to the movers, and he had a little girl in his arms. So, it looks like another married couple is moving in. I guess it’s just the Widow Jenkins and me holding down the single-and-fabulous category of the HOA. To be honest, other than my sister, she’s probably my best friend right now. I couldn’t be happier.

Later that afternoon, I was back in my spot and saw the new neighbor out mowing. On the day of their arrival? It seems like a hectic day to be mowing, and I wonder where his wife might be. He is sweaty and has kids shouting at him, and all the while, he is really hitting those diagonal lines in the front yard. He has earbuds in, a big smile on his face, and seems to be really enjoying himself. You do you, Grass Daddy.

I went to the grocery store to stock up on single, white female grocery supplies: wine, crackers, cheese, hummus, chocolate, so all of the major necessities. I ventured to the big grocery store, not the one close to where I live, because I hadn’t been for a while and needed to stock up. Since it wasn’t my regular store, I didn’t even look in the mirror before I left because no one here was going to know me. I was trying to decide what gummy snack would pair best with a pinot noir when I heard someone say, “Cassie?”

I turned around, and it was my old internet boyfriend, Luke, whom I had met over a decade ago. Whereas I am wearing clothes that are barely acceptable for leaving the house and didn’t even have leftover makeup from yesterday on, he was glowing. Somehow, a little gray hair and some fine lines around his smile had made him infinitely hotter. He was wearing glasses, but they were sexy, hardworking man glasses—not the distracting ones I had come to know and love. He was tall, muscular, tan, and entirely too good-looking to be talking to me in my current state. He was, in fact, a silver fox.

“Luke. Oh my god, what are you doing here?” I said.

“I just moved back to town. I was wondering if I would ever run into you. I know you don’t often extrovert and go out, so this is quite the surprise!”

“Yep, you caught me on my weekly adventure out in public. What a coincidence. Look, I even dressed up for the occasion!” I laughed while gesturing to my pajama pants and old 5k t-shirt. “I didn’t know that you moved back, but why would I?”

“Yeah, just recently. Would you want to grab a coffee or drink sometime?” he asked. “You know, if you feel like putting pants on and leaving the house.”

I laughed, “Sure, that would be great. Do you still have the same number?”

“Yes, I do. You?”

“Yep, just text me when you get settled in, and we’ll make a plan. It was so good to see you. It’s been forever”.

He smiles and walks away. I scream internally and berate myself for being willing to go in public looking like I’m on the brink of a mental breakdown. What a freakin’ hottie with a body. On the aging and hotness chart, he took a sharp turn upward, whereas I have been on a steady decline. It was nice that he asked about hanging out. However, I doubt I will be hearing from him anytime soon.

Chapter 15

August 20th, 2018

Wow, what a wild night I had last night. I went out to my porch with a cup of coffee to enjoy the weather and mentally run through the events from the evening. A small reprieve before I had to clock in and feel all of the joy get sucked out of my day. Grass Daddy was up early, mowing the lawn that I am pretty sure he mowed yesterday. Maybe he comes out early to cut down on sweating in the heat. He must get up before the kids are awake so he can engage in his favorite hobby in peace. I have yet to see Grass Mommy, though perhaps she has better hobbies that keep her indoors.

In a shocking turn of events, Luke actually texted me a couple of days ago to ask if I wanted to meet up. After we ended things, I deleted him from all of my social media. I have no idea if he is married or what the status of his love life is. I’m sure it’s just a friendly hang because we broke up for a reason. We were in totally different places, and it was heartbreaking, to say the least. Despite every fiber in my being wanting to decline, I accepted. Just a friendly hangout. I’m not going down the same road with him. It might have been because I was two glasses of wine and one bag of gummy worms deep in my evening. He asked me to meet him downtown at a new restaurant and bar for a drink at 8 p.m.

I walked into the new, very stylish, very hipster, I feel too old to be here type of establishment, and saw Luke sitting at a table in the back. He smiled and gave a little wave. He is so hot. I don’t even know how to talk to people who look like that. What does he even want from me? This made more sense when he was nerdy, his eyes a little too big for his head, and his glasses too small for everything. Tonight, he wasn’t wearing glasses at all, which I had never seen him do when we had gone out in public. The only time I’d ever seen him without them was when he took them off to shower, sleep, or have sex. Man, he has filled out nicely. And now I’ve been standing here, staring at him for an awkwardly long amount of time. Take a step forward, Cassie.

“Hi again,” I said as I walked up to the table.

He stands up and gives me a hug, and I can feel beads of sweat forming on my upper lip. So it's nice to know that my body still breaks out into a sweat whenever I see him.

“Thanks for coming; I’ve been looking forward to hanging out,” he says as he sits back down.

“Of course, me, too,” I replied. I sat down right next to him at the small high-top table.

“Really?” he questioned me in response.

I laughed. “As much as a homebody can be excited to go out to a bar. In the city. Late at night.“ He chuckles his Luke laugh, but with an older, hotter flair, and my heart squeezes. “Tell me what is new and why you moved back and everything else.”

“The job that I moved to California for basically disappeared after a few years. I could have found something there, but I decided not to. It was a hard decision to move back here, but my parents are here, and they are getting older. I figured if there was a time to move back, it was now. I started at a new tech company here and am working remotely. I’m also a forty-one-year-old man living in my parents’ basement.” He cringes. “Just until I figure out where I want to land permanently. Also, I better be home by midnight, so my mom doesn’t worry.” He laughs, and his eyes crinkle.

I have a mini orgasm.