clichering.

“You gotta bite the bullet, Bridge, and tell us everything.” Kate ordered as she handed her menu back to the impatient waitress after ordering the chicken carbonara.

The three forty-something women were gathered at their favorite table in the corner at their favorite place. Every waitress that worked the evening shift knew them even though they only managed to coordinate their schedules for dinner about six times a year which required a marathon of catching up on families, dating and work war stories.

They always ordered the bread pudding for dessert and talked until the entire staff were checking their watches because the restaurant and been closed for forty minutes. All the chairs except theirs were turned over on the tabletops and all the floors had been mopped except their corner. Then they would spend an average of sixty-two minutes more in the parking lot leaning on one of their three cars talking until the lot was empty and the streetlights had flickered on and were buzzing like a swarm of flies.

Bridget waited for the waitress to get some distance from the table, and she leaned in closer to Kate and Meredith. “To be honest, I don’t know where to begin. You know I’ve basically been burning the candle at both ends with both my jobs. Do I really like this guy or am I just desperate not to be a single work-aholic anymore? Maybe I just don’t want to be alone anymore and I’m delirious from working seventy hours a week and I’m settling for this guy.” She said and dropped her head in her hands.

Meredith leaned in. “He could totally be the one. Don’t you think?”

“You know that I am not a ‘love-at-first sight’ kinda girl,” Bridgett sighed with air quotes and a roll of her eyes.  ‘Go out on a limb’ they always say. But I’m scared stiff of becoming my mother who was always hanging at the end of her rapidly fraying rope because my jerk father always managed to pull the wool over her eyes when he was sleeping around and left her holding the bag time and time again.”

Kate was nodding, “…such a bald-faced liar!”

“Right?!” Bridget agreed.

Meredith looked down and whispered, “Maybe your dad was never really in love with your mom. Maybe he was looking for his soulmate.”

“Ah Mer. You always gave him the benefit of the doubt. Even when the jerk didn’t deserve it.” Bridget loved Meredith for her optimism, but she could never give her father that much leeway. She saw what it did to her mom. Meredith always sees the best in everyone and is incapable of going to the dark and twisty side. Bridgett decided to confess to her best friends, “so I met him online…a singles, swipe-to-the-left deal.”

Kate and Meredith leaned in, hanging on Bridget’s every word.

“It’s the moment of truth. How old is he?” Kate interjected.

“Um.” Bridget hedged. “He is a tiny bit older than me.”

“K. Like how much is a tiny bit?” Kate pushed.

Bridget covered her face with her hands and mumbled something.

“What?!” Kate screamed. And then scanned the restaurant to see how many people were looking at her. Not enough people were staring to be worried about. She shook Bridget by the arms. “Spill it Bridge. How old is he? Social security old?”

“Maybe.”

Kate and Meredith exchanged a glance and said nothing.

After a long moment, Kate just exhaled a deep sigh. “Oh girl. Tell us. How much older?”

“18 years.” She whispered.

“So…like one foot in the grave?” Kate giggled.

“Like mature and secure?” Meredith asked.

“Like hit the panic button because this guy has a daughter my age!”

“Whoa.” Kate sighed. “Okay Girl. Moment of truth. Clearly Mr. Older and Wiser has something that keeps bringing you back. You gotta stop beating around the bush. You’ve been dating for a few months now, right?”

“I decided. You only live once. I can’t let this door close. We’ve been going out for almost three months.” Bridgett took a breath. And smiled.

Meredith matched her smile. “What is he doing that makes you smile like that? “

“My grandma used to say this about my grandpa, and I never knew what it meant until now. He’s the salt of the earth. I feel like I should be scared to death but I’m as calm as a winter’s day. He listens when I talk to him. He hears me. I feel safe with him.”

Suddenly the waitress was there juggling plates. She could tell she had stopped the conversation, so she dropped the plates quickly and left the tableside. When the waitress’s back was turned, they exchanged plates so that everyone had the meal they ordered.

Each of the women, unwrapped their silverware and started to dive into their dinners. Kate was the first to break the silence, “so spill the beans. He can’t be the perfect man. What does he do that drives you insane?” She pointed her carbonara covered fork at her.

Bridgett laughed right out loud. She swallowed her bite of pot pie, buying a moment. “He always wants to drive. Get the car door. Open the door for me. He’s totally a gentleman and I have absolutely no idea what to do with that! You spend thirty years getting your own door and you don’t really know what to do with that. And he can totally be a chatty Kathy. I’ve never met a man that talks more than you do Kate!”

Each of them laughed together. “But seriously….he has three kids from his first marriage. Three kids! And the oldest one is only a few years younger than I am. What do I even do with that? If things work out, I would be a mom to three people my age. How crazy is that?”

“Maybe you could more of a friend than a mom.”  

“Hold on Mer. Did you say first marriage? Exactly how many times has this man carried a woman over the threshold of something?” Kate exclaimed.

“Only twice.”

“Twice? You’ve not even done this one time.”

“Three times is the charm, they say.” Mer chimed in.

“I know this, Kate. Believe me. It keeps me up nights.” She dug her fork in and swirled the innards of her pot pie. “But you should hear the way he talks about his second wife. He adored her. I worry that he is looking for her again. And I am nothing like her.”

“Where is this magical woman?”

Bridgett looked down at her plate and swallowed the thick lump in her throat. “She died. She had a pulmonary embolism. She died in his arms. There was nothing he could do. It broke his heart.”

“That is so terribly sad.”

Even Kate had to take a minute with this information. There was silence as they finished up the food on their plates. Meredith ordered the bread pudding and started the conversation back up again, “Have you met the kids? I bet they will love you as much as we do.”

“Not yet. We are just getting to know each other. And you know how slow I am. He’s holding back because of me. It must be like watching paint dry for him. But he’s still here.”

“Of course, he is. You are worth the wait.”

“Thanks Mer. I don’t know. He’s probably going to wake up one day and wondered what he was thinking!”

The bread pudding came, and Bridgett tried to turn the conversation to Meredith and Kate. Pushing Meredith to tell them about her trip the Bahamas. Kate finally jumped in to share about her drama driven co-worker Kelly who was on her last nerve. The servers were beginning to clean the restaurant around them and overturning chairs onto the table. They paid the check and as was tradition, they moved the conversation to the parking lot. They ended up leaning against Kate’s tiny bright pink Honda Fit with the scratch on the passenger side when she side-swiped a parking structure column.

“So, what happens next Friend?” Kate pushed. “With Mr. Wonderful?”

Meredith could see Bridgett blushing even in the dying light. “I don’t know but I don’t want him to leave. I’m a little addicted to the man who listens to me and takes care of me this way.” She leaned into their circle laughing, “he completes me.”

“Yay!” Meredith cheered while clapping.

“When are we going to meet this legend?”

“Soon. Sometime soon. I must make sure he is knee-deep in love so that you don’t change his mind.” Bridgett said winking at Kate.

“Deal. We will love him because we love you. He is damn lucky to have you. It was a wise man who swiped right on the photo of your face.”

“Ah. Shucks.” Bridgett pulled them into her arms, “group hug! I promise to try and not screw it up.” She laughed.

Bridgett walked over to her car, opened her door, and stood poised to get in behind the wheel. “Love you Awesome Nerds!” she shouted.

Kate pulled open her car and pointed at Bridgett. Kate’s eyes filled with tears. “You got this. I feel good about this one. Even though he’s an old guy! I’ll bring the walker to the wedding.”

Meredith agreed. She held up her hands in the shape of a heart and nodded at Bridgett. “You’ve got this Bridge. You’ve got this.”