Second Chances

She stared at the text with disbelief. It had been almost ten years since they had spoken with each other. Although they had tried to stay friends, things had not ended well. But now, suddenly out of the blue, he was reaching out to her. And on Valentine’s Day, no less. Julia tried to stay composed as she started to respond. He wanted to meet and talk. Rather than risking being disappointed in a public restaurant, Julia used the pandemic as an excuse to suggest dinner at her place. He agreed. Julia hung up the phone and tried to remember the things he liked to eat. She was hopeful and wanted to make it romantic. But maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. Trying not to go overboard, Julia began planning a menu.

               “What if he just wants to see how she’s doing?” Julia thought. “Would planning a romantic dinner be a mistake? On the other hand, he might want to get back together.” She pondered.

Julia went to the store and carefully selected what she thought would be a good meal either way. She chose to go with salmon and a vegetable dish. But she became stumped while she looked at the array of desserts.  

“Should I go with heart-shaped cookies? Or maybe something less cliché?’’ Julia struggled to come up with an answer. She remembered that Mike liked ice cream. “Perhaps that would be safe,” Julia concluded. Although it was cold and snowing outside, Julia carefully chose a flavor of ice cream she thought Mike would like.

“I should get some wine.” She thought. She looked at the carefully displayed selection of sparkling, cheerful pink-colored wines. One bottle was even labeled ‘love you bunches.’ Julia rolled her eyes, knowing that choosing that wine would most definitely be going overboard. Instead, she carefully selected a local pinot noir that she hoped would go with the fish.

As she stood in line to check out, making sure she was standing six feet away, Julia thought back to the last Valentine’s Day they had spent together. He had been living in South Carolina at the time, and she had the bright idea to meet him in Asheville. It was a carefully planned romantic getaway that slowly went from bad to worse.

Ten years earlier, her alarm had gone off at 4:45 am. Julia had wanted everything to be perfect and was hopeful that this was the weekend Mike would finally propose. She had jumped into the shower right away to allow plenty of time to finish packing and make her flight on time. But her timeliness caused her to miss a text from the airline saying that they anticipated the Atlanta airport closing due to a blizzard headed that way. When Julia finally saw the text, she was already heading out the door. Julia called Mike asking him whether they should cancel the trip, but Mike had encouraged her to come. He offered to call and reserve a rental car in Atlanta so she could make the quick drive to Charlotte when she landed.

When Julia arrived in Atlanta, the rental car lines wrapped around the airport like a line for the most popular ride at Disney World. Julia sighed and tried to remain patient as she wondered if the trip was a mistake after all. She was finally able to get a car and headed out into the blizzard. What should have been a quick drive to Charlotte turned into a six-hour drive through ice and snow. When Julia finally arrived, she was cold and exhausted. She had stepped out of the car to be greeted by Mike standing outside with a bright pink bouquet. At that moment, Julia had believed that everything would be okay. But the trip went from bad to worse.

Mike and Julia had decided not to try and make the drive to the B&B in Asheville that night. Instead, they stayed in a cheap hotel room. Julia tried to ignore Mike’s resistance to paying, but that did not stop his complaining. The next day they drove up to the B&B and discovered that they were unwilling to credit Julia for the night they had missed. Now everyone was feeling penny-pinched. After checking in, Mike announced that he needed to run a quick errand. Julia’s imagination could not help but run away with romantic fantasies of how Mike was planning to propose. He returned with a Valentine’s Day bouquet, which Julia chose to see as a cover for more elaborate plans. Dinner that evening was strained as Julia anxiously awaited a marriage proposal that never came. 

Julia approached the checkout and then bagged her items herself to help avoid spreading germs. She went out into the cold and headed home. She spent the afternoon carefully preparing the meal, hoping for the best but bracing for the worst. Mike was unusually punctual that evening. When Julia opened the door, she saw an old familiar face. It had new wrinkles. And Mike’s hair was turning grey in a few places. But his smile was the same. And when he smiled, Julia’s heart skipped a beat.

“You look amazing,” Mike flattered.

“Come in and get warm,” Julia responded as she glanced down at his left hand. There was no wedding ring, and Julia breathed a sigh of relief. “Maybe he’s not still married,” she thought.

Julia put the finishing touches on the meal, and they sat down to eat. She couldn’t help but be distracted by the two unlit candlesticks on the table.

“Should she have lit the candles?” she wondered. “Would that make it too romantic?” Her thoughts were scattered.

Mike smiled and thanked her for cooking. They engaged in small talk, attempting to catch up on ten years of absence. Mike talked about his children and couldn’t help but brag when he informed Julia that two of them were about to graduate from college. Julia cringed at the thought that she had missed out on so much of their lives. She tried to stay calm as she talked about her career and spending the last few years in Indiana. The meal was pleasant, and the conversation was simple.

As Mike poured Julia another glass of wine, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing there.

“Does he want to be friends, or does he want something more?” Julia obsessed. “Is he still married?” “What happened?” She couldn’t quiet her mind. Maybe another glass of wine would help. She sipped on a second glass and continued to engage in small talk but found herself increasingly frustrated. “Why doesn’t he just say what he came for?”

It didn’t help that he still looked so good. Julia just wanted to shout out ‘I forgive you’ and plant a kiss on his lips. But did she forgive him? It was a question worth considering. The breakup had been strange at the very least. After Julia had returned from Asheville, Mike stopped calling her every day. And when he did call, it seemed that they were unable to connect. As the calls ceased altogether, Julia had hung on to the belief that it was still somehow going to be okay. That was when Mike had texted her to say that he needed to return a dresser they had bought together.

“Are you back in town?!” she had asked shocked, and angry.

“Yes.” Mike had replied without any emotion.

When he brought the dresser back, he didn’t allow the children to get out of the car. His youngest was crying and rambling on about how he wanted to get a donut. Despite Mike’s protests, Julia had rushed to the car to calm him down. When she looked in the car, she could not help but notice that the older two never looked up from their phones. Julia recalls feeling a sense of dread. To make matters worse, Mike didn’t officially break up with her for another month. Julia had been so heartbroken she hadn’t dated anyone since.

“I should get going,” Mike said softly, bringing Julia back from memory lane.

“That’s it?” Julia thought, feeling confused. She knew it was unrealistic to hope for more, but secretly Julia had been hoping for some grand romantic gesture.

As Mike walked toward the door, he politely thanked her for dinner and hugged her. Julia felt that old familiar tingling as she hung on just a little too long. Julia watched him walk away and wondered what would happen next. Feeling sentimental, Julia sat down at her laptop and began looking at old pictures. If only he had proposed that weekend in Asheville like she thought he was going to. Julia sighed. She knew she shouldn’t, but she decided to pull up her Facebook account and look at Mike’s profile. It had been years since they had connected on social media but, she could still see some of his photos. Her eyes went directly to an old picture of Mike kissing his new bride. They looked blissfully happy. And the caption read ‘I love my new wife.’

Julia quickly walked away and went to start washing dishes. She blinked back a few tears.

“Was there any hope?” she wondered. “And even if there was, could she possibly forgive him?” Julia sighed. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” she told herself.

Just then, there was a soft knock on the door. Julia opened it to see Mike standing there looking down.

“Did you forget something?” she asked him.

“No. Well, sort of.” Mike stumbled. “I wanted to apologize for how I treated you all those years ago.” Julia stood there staring. Ten years later, she finally heard the words she had needed to hear for so long. Mike stood on the porch in the snow, shivering.

“Come in,” she said softly.

As Mike entered the house, he looked over to see the laptop open on the table. Julia looked over and gasped. She felt her face turn red as she frantically considered whether or not she could close it before he saw anything.

“I was just reminiscing,” she said as she rushed over to try and close the laptop. But Mike was already sitting looking at the picture of him and his wife.

“Things haven’t gone so well.” He said to her. Julia sat down next to him as they both stared at the seemingly happy photo.

“She isn’t who I thought she was,” Mike whispered. “She isn’t you.”

Julia inhaled a deep breath and sighed. Yes, she could forgive him, she thought. He was the love of her life.