The Cynic

The Cynic

She can't figure out how she ended up here. No way did she consent to this. Blind dates aren't something she does. 

“Love,” a humorless laugh, “that is just something they use to sell flowers and cards. It isn't real.” 

“Romeo and Juliet.” Her friend countered.

“Right, look how that turned out.” 

“Might as well give up, Zoe. Abby doesn't believe in love. Period.” Her sister knows her. While Beth was mooning over the boys, Abby was studying. She had great ambitions. Pre-med at Georgia State and then medical school. No silly boy was going to interfere with that. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Connor didn't convince you that love exists?” Zoe keeps trying.

They were a couple that the two took care of. Mr. Connor was transferred to the ICU after a severe cardiac event. At almost one hundred, they all knew he wouldn't be leaving. Mrs. Connor didn't either. She sat by his bedside for every second she was allowed. The rest of the time, she was in the waiting room. Zoe and the other nurses saw that she had what she needed. The faithful wife was by his side when he took his last breath. Even Abby shed a tear.

“Ninety-five and she has to live alone now. That is what ‘ love' gets you.” 

“No, it got her a huge family. Remember all her kids and grandkids that came?” Zoe lifts up her drink. The three sit together at a bar, “A toast to love and all its benefits.” she knocks her cocktail glass against Beth's and against Abby's beer bottle.

“Look, I am glad my baby sister is happy. Neil is a good man. But that life isn't for me.” 

“Love will find you when you least expect it.” Beth grins at her and she twirls her new engagement ring around.

She has no problem helping to plan her sister's wedding. Familiar love is the only type she believes in and she loves her baby sister dearly. Seeing her happy makes her own heart lift. 

“I am telling you, Zoe, he would be perfect for her. He is carefree but serious when it counts. They would perfectly balance each other.”

“Look,” She removes her daughter ‘s bowl from the high chair seconds before she throws it off. She replaces it with her sippy cup, “I am all for it. The issue is, how do we convince her? You know she won't easily go for it.” 

“I know,” She moves her cell phone to her other hand so the seamstress measuring her for her wedding gown can work, “I have an idea.” 

“I am listening.”

“What if…?”

“Neil’s cousin, Steve, is going to be his best man.” They sit across from each other at the hospital ‘s cafeteria. 

“Okay.”

“As my maid of honor, I thought you might like his number, to plan hen and rooster parties.” she keeps it casual, not wanting to spook her.

Abby tilts her head, her eyes narrow. “Are you up to something, little sister?”

“Nothing more than making Neil and I ‘s wedding perfect. Coordinating the parties isn't exactly something we can do, is it?” She gives her the same pitiful look, that when they were children, had her giving over her pudding cup.

“No,” she takes his number from her, “you can't.” 

They talk about the wedding and family gossip until Abby has to return to work. She will call this Steve when she gets off.

Feet up, wine glass in hand, she calls him. “Steve? Yes, this is Abby, Beth’s sister.”

“Right, Neil's Beth.”

That right there, is one reason she was so against love. You lose yourself in it. Beth is a complete person outside her relationship. She refrains from saying all this to the stranger on the other end.

“Yes. She thought, as you are the  best man and I, her maid of honor, that we might need to coordinate their parties. My sister would like them the same day.”

“Got that. When were you thinking? The wedding is in three months, right?”

“Yes. It is traditionally a few nights before, right?”

“I think so. I could meet you somewhere and we could discuss it.”

She takes a good sized sip of her wine. “Slow your roll there. There will be plenty of single ladies at the wedding. I am not one of them.”

“My apologies. I thought you said maid of honor, not matron.”

She places her wine glass carefully on the table and sits all the way up. “I did. I am not married nor willI ever be. I will be at this wedding for Beth, that is all.”

They are both silent for a moment. Then Steve says, “Very good. Professional it will be. I am a lawyer with,” he names his firm, “You may meet me at my office any morning before ten. If that isn't convenient, tell me where to meet you.”

“I work as an ICU doctor. I will meet you. Thank you.”

“Thank you, doctor.” They hang up.

“Him thinking this was a set up to a date,” she is still mumbling under her breath the next day. Zoe hides her smile behind a chart.

“You straightened him out.”

“Too right I did!”

She waits a month before heading to his office before her shift. His secretary makes her presence known. 

“See her in.” he stands. She walks in, straight backed and ready to get down to business.

“Steve.” She offers her hand.

“Beth.” He takes it, shaking it quickly, “would you have a seat? Is there something I can get you, coffee perhaps?”

“Thank you. I am fine.” She takes a seat across from him.

“Okay. Let's get these parties straightened out.” 

“The wedding is on the fifth. Rehearsal dinner the night before. How about the second? I don't think either one wants to come into their rehearsal dinner hung over.”

He smiles. She must admit, he looks pretty attractive when he does. “I agree. So, you aren't planning a proper party for Beth?” He sits back in his chair.

“Oh no! I shall send my sister off with a blowout party.”

“Hmm. So strippers aren't out of the realm of possibilities?”

“They are essential.”

As they talk, she is starting to lose some of her stiffness and enjoy the back and forth.

“Brilliant. Then I won't feel guilty about getting some for Neil's party.”

“Not at all. Just no touching.” 

His grin grows. “Him or I?”

What is this? Why is her heart suddenly pounding? Her hands go to her face and she feels the flush. 

“Ah, you, ah, do whatever you wish. Neil, ah…” She starts to stand and he reaches out, placing his hand on hers.

“I am sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, it is just I must get to the hospital.”

“Of course.”

It takes a few phone calls but he finds out where she works and when she is getting off. When she steps out that night, he is there.

“Steve?”

“There is something between us. Let me take you out to dinner. One date. In the end, if you don't agree, we will only see each other again at the wedding and maybe other assorted family gatherings.”

“I don't do this but, one date won't hurt. A lady has to eat.” 

She laughs as he describes a prank he and Neil pulled on their parents.

“Mom was so mad but dad calmed her down. I was prepared to talk my way out of it, or try.”

“A lawyer even then.” 

“Yes. You always wanted to be a doctor?”

“Yes. As long as I could remember. I was always good at math and science. Then mom got sick,” She sobers as the conversation gets serious, “cancer. Watching how these amazing people saved her, I knew I wanted to do the same.”

They sit and talk long after their plates are cleared away. When they finally have to leave, he takes her hand as he walks her out to her car.

“Why don't you do this?” The stars are bright above them. Due to the late hour, they seem to be the only people left in their part of the world. Due to this, she is honest. 

“My uncle, my dad's brother, he molested me when I was five. Told me that is how love was shown,” she shakes her head, “That is the first time I have ever said that out loud. I buried it, in my studies,in becoming the best. He was killed, shot dead, a year after it happened. Made it easier to forget. Love seemed like a trap, more hurt than anything.”

“It is understandable. To associate love with pain. I am so sorry, Abby, that happened to you. I am glad he is dead.” 

She finds herself sobbing against him. He holds her as the moon rises higher above them.

After the wedding, she didn't see him again for a year. Work and long overdue counseling keeps her busy.

Exiting her favorite coffee shop, she bumps into him. 

“Beth? Hi. You look,” a tilt of his head, “happy.”

“Counseling. I am ready to try, if you, I shouldn't presume you are…” He stops her rambling by taking her lips.

The end