Lucky in Love (21 page)

***

Meanwhile, a few hundred miles away, Noah was walking into a Chico’s Bar and Grill. As usual, the hostess was somewhere out of sight, so he bypassed the little front desk and continued right on through the restaurant. He passed by a row of booths and made a turn at the end to where the pool tables were. After looking around for a moment, he spotted Jason and Gabe at a table in the corner. Once closer to the table, he noticed the chips and salsa sitting beside the half empty pitcher of beer. Instinctively, he glanced at his watch. He was later than he had thought.

Gabe was the first to notice Noah. He stood up from his chair grinning. Noah pulled him in for a half hug, half slap on the back.

“Gabe the babe!  What the hell are you doing here?  Aren't you supposed to be in New York?” Noah leaned over the table to shake hands with Jason before he sat down next to Gabe, who had already plopped back down into his seat.

“I wish,” Jason said, shaking his head, “He's been camped out on our couch for two weeks now.” Noah poured himself a pint of beer and looked at Gabe.

“What happened?”

“Well, I went to New York and everything was great...but after a month, things started to get a little difficult.”

Noah leaned back into his chair with his beer still in hand, preparing for a story he was certain would be entertaining.

“Why?”

Gabe on the other hand, set down his glass and began shifting around in his seat uncomfortably. Then he began, “I don't know if you know this, but Janette and I only ever dated for a summer in high school, before my parents moved me out-of-state.  Ever since then, it's been a long distance thing.  And it was working great...until we got rid of the distance.  Turns out, we don't really have a lot in common...and not just that, after living with her for 2 months, I can say with quite a bit of confidence that I don't really like the girl.  Oh, don't feel bad for her; I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.  As I was leaving, she threw my bags down the stairwell and yelled something along the lines of ‘I hate you Asshole!’”

Noah was trying both, not to choke on his beer and laugh at the same time. He managed to stifle the laugh, but coughed as he said, “That's pretty harsh.”

“Yeah, so then why are you smiling?”

Noah couldn’t contain himself any longer, “It's also pretty hilarious!  I mean, you dated this girl for how long?  And for what?  Because you had a crush on her in high school?!  And now after you actually get to know each other, it turns out you don't even like each other!”

As Noah’s ridicule continued, Gabe just took it silently, shaking his head and grinning. Then Noah decided to add insult to injury by saying, “Do you ever think about all the women you could have been sleeping with while you were pining away for Janette in New York all those years?”

“Not until just now!” Gabe frowned.

Having been sitting back enjoying the show quietly from his seat in the corner, Jason decided it was a good time to cut in and change the subject.

“Okay, okay...so how's your new place working out?  Is it pretty roomy?” He was looking at Noah as he spoke.

“It's ok,” Noah shrugged as he reached for a chip and dipped it in the salsa.

“Yeah?  So, have you thought about getting a roommate?” Jason asked sounding as innocent as he could to hide his ulterior motive.

“Nope,” Noah said as he took a big bite trying to keep the salsa from dripping. Then he gave a knowing grin at Jason who shook his head disappointed. Gabe caught the exchange.

“Wait, I see what's going on here! You're trying to trade me off!  That's messed up man.  I thought we were friends!”

Before Gabe had a chance to get to upset, Jason and Noah began to laugh. Realizing that they had been messing with him, he scoffed at the both of them.

Just then the waitress showed up with a second pitcher of beer. She topped off each of their glasses and cleared out the empty pitcher. Then she checked with each of the guys to be sure they didn’t need anything else. When she was satisfied that they were well taken care of, she moved on to the next table.

“So, have you guys talked to Lucky?” Noah asked casually.

Gabe nodded.

              Jason reached for his full glass and then leaned back in his seat.

“Yeah.  Have you?”

“No, haven't talked to her since she left,” Noah responded, then to try and avoid drawing  attention to this fracture in their relationship, he continued, “Is she liking her new job?”

“Yeah, she's really happy there,” Jason replied.

“Good. I'm glad,” Noah said, not looking very glad at all at that moment.

Gabe leaned forward in his chair and folded his arms on the table looking suddenly serious as he turned his gaze towards Noah.

“Are you?  'Cause you sounded pretty sure that she was never going to do it, last time I talked to you.”

Aware that he hadn’t sold his position to the others as well as he had intended, Noah gave it a little more effort the second time around.

“Yes, I'm happy. Actually, it turns out it’s a lot easier not to have a female roommate.  Do you know how many girls always thought I had something going with Lucky?  It's a lot easier not having to explain that anymore.”

Jason nodded his head in agreement.

“Yeah, I bet.  Tara actually didn't want to date me because she was worried about how close Lucky and I were.  Like she thought one day we would wake up and realize we were in love or something.”

“You never thought that might happen?” Noah probed, as though the thought had occurred to him as well a time or two.

“Me and Lucky?” Jason asked surprised. “No, never.”

Noah eyed him skeptically.

“Really, I kind of always figured you two would end up together.”

Jason snorted.

“Please, if she was going to end up with anyone, it was going to be Gabe.  Hey, now that Janette's out of the picture...maybe you should take a little trip to Idaho,” Jason said, pointing at Gabe who was absentmindedly crunching away on tortilla chips, while intently following the conversation going on in front of him. When he realized Jason had included him, he tossed the chip he was holding back into the basket.

“You guys are both out of your mind!  She was never going to end up with me or Jason,” he said sounding very matter-of-fact. Then he grinned, satisfied at their expressions when they realized he knew something they didn’t.

“Why not?” Jason asked.

Gabe looked at both of them as he lifted his glass to his mouth, fully intending to have a drink and draw this out as long as he could. They deserved it after the way they had messed with him earlier, but then even he couldn’t stand the anticipation any longer.

“Because, she's in love with Noah,” Gabe beamed. Jason’s face had completely distorted and he looked as though he was busy collecting information and putting everything together piece by piece in slow motion, while Noah almost looked angry.

“What? Why would you think that?” Noah demanded, sounding rather accusatory.

“Because she told me...okay, she didn't actually tell me.” Gabe stopped for a moment debating on whether or not telling the whole truth would be necessary, or if he could get away with glossing over some of the less flattering details. Judging by the looks on their faces, he opted for the unabridged version.

“See a while back, I was on the phone and I had to write down this address and I was looking for a piece of paper.”

“So?” Noah couldn’t see how this was relevant.

“So,
Lucky's bag was right there and I figured 'hey, she's a teacher, she's gotta have paper in there right?' So I reached in and pulled out what I thought was scrap paper, only it wasn't. It was a letter addressed to Grandma Pearl.  And I know it was wrong but I wanted to know why the hell she was writing her dead grandmother letters...so, I read it.” Gabe glanced back and forth between the two. Jason still seemed to be very focused, but at least Noah’s expression had softened a bit.

“And?” Noah asked, eager to hear the rest of the story.

“And, in the letter she went on and on about her feelings for you,” Gabe finished.

Both Jason and Noah had been sitting on the edge of their seats as Gabe had been talking, now they simultaneously leaned back and allowed the information to sink in.

“Wow,” Jason said quietly.

“Yeah.” Noah didn’t know what else to say.

“I had no idea,” Jason continued, then having had another thought he asked, “Is it sad or sweet that she wrote her dead grandma a letter?”

Without thinking, Noah answered, “It's just how she works through things, writing those letters is kind of like keeping a journal for her.”

Gabe looked at him curiously while Jason was taken aback for the second time.

“You knew she did that?” Then suddenly, all the pieces started to fall into place for him. Jason smacked himself in the forehead.

“The stationery! Holy shit, Tara was right - you ARE in love with her!”

“What?” Noah’s feigned disbelief at this statement wasn’t entirely believable and Jason just ignored him.

“Seriously, I can't believe I never saw it before.  Tara told me that you told Lucky you were in love with her.”

Gabe almost spit out his beer.

“You did what?! When?!”

Still unfazed, Jason continued, “And I totally thought she was full of crap.  I mean, I was certain that she had misunderstood something because I thought there was no way...but then the stationery at her birthday, it seemed like such a lame present, only now it turns out, it wasn't lame at all, it was totally personal and well, perfect probably.”

Finally having finished his long train of thought, Jason looked at Noah expectantly, who in turn looked at him ready to counter his argument. Before he had a chance to come up with anything he caught a glimpse of Gabe, who was glaring at him intensely, almost daring him to deny the truth that was suddenly so blatantly obvious to everyone. Defeated, Noah sank back into his chair.

“Ok, so what?”

“So what?  Why is she in Idaho?” Jason asked, sounding slightly exasperated.

“Because that's where she wants to be,” Noah replied in a monotone voice that offered no indication of his feelings involving the topic.

Jason looked at him sternly and took on a tone he was used to using when dealing with his teenage students.

“I'm being serious, if you love her and she loves you...what's the problem?”

Noah silently stared down at his hands, pretending to be intensely focused on a hang nail he had just discovered. For a long while, Gabe and Jason just watched him, waiting for an answer. Finally, when he couldn’t take the feel of their eyes digging through the top of his head any longer, he looked up.

“I don't know what the problem is,” he shrugged. “I guess it's me.”

Gabe grinned.

“Well, then you should probably fix it.”

Noah looked across at him and then over at Jason, who appeared to be in agreement with Gabe.

“Yeah, I probably should,” Noah said, as a smile began to spread from one side of his face to the other.

An Unexpected Offer

Early the
next morning I received a call from Shelly, my realtor. She was excited as she told me about an offer that had come in on the house. Even though she had promised that I would be able to handle my end of the sale from where I was, I instantly felt the need to get on a plane and go back to see the house one last time while it was still mine. Three days later, I was sitting on a plane and headed back.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone that I was in town. Saying goodbye the first time had been hard enough and I wasn’t prepared to do it all over again so soon. Instead, I got myself a room at a small inn not too far from the house. After meeting with Shelly in the morning, I made my way over to the place I had called home for such a long time. My heart ached as the house came into view. I fought the urge to pull up into the driveway and parked on the street instead. For a while I just sat there, staring at the empty shell that had once contained my whole world. Finally, I forced myself to get out of the car. Partially because I thought some sort of movement would distract me and keep me from crying my eyes out and partially because I knew that if I stayed there staring at my past I would start to have doubts about my future. Doubts I simply couldn’t afford to have. So, determined to stand by the choices I had made that led me here, I approached the “For Sale” sign still perched on my front lawn. Reminding myself that I had wanted this day to come and that it was in fact a good thing, I bent down and pulled the sign out of the ground. As I straightened back up, I saw that another car had pulled up behind mine. Then, a second later a man was walking down the sidewalk towards me. It was Noah.

“Hey.  What are you doing here?” I asked, trying not to show just how stunned I was to see him.

“I see you're taking down the sign,” he replied, pointing at my hand. I looked down at it and saw the sign still dangling in my grip. For a moment I had forgotten all about it.

“Yes.  I found a buyer.” Just like that, the satisfaction I had been yearning for appeared. After all, hadn’t it been Noah who had doubted me? Who didn’t believe I could really go through with it? Well, now I had.