Smiles from the Past

Smiles from the Past

“Have you closed out the account yet Bob?” Veronica said, her face tightening around her lips as she firmly pushed her glasses higher onto her nose. “No Ma’am, but it’s close. I’m projecting that by next Wednesday it–”. “I don’t want to hear excuses,” Veronica cut him off. “I told you I wanted that job closed by today. If you can’t get it done I’ll assign someone else. Do you understand?” Veronica said. “Yes Ma’am, I’ll get it done,” the marketing director said and quickly exited the meeting room. “That’s all for today everyone, let's get back to work,” Veronica said, and the other directors, V.P.’s and assistants gathered their things and departed hastily. Veronica was left alone, staring out the wide windows of the 25th floor of the Parker Building, onto the city below. She knew she had a sharp tongue and usually felt a little remorse for having to scold her senior executives like that. “But I own the most successful Marketing and Advertising Agency in the midWest. I have to keep after them if we’re going to stay on top. They get complacent and I can’t have that. You have to push.” She consoled herself. “I’m glad it’s Friday though. I need to get away from here for a bit.” She picked up her cell phone to call Tom. “Are we still on for this evening?” she said. “Yes dear,” Tom replied. “Did you call and verify the reservations like I asked you to? You know how I hate waiting to eat, and I’m going to be hungry.” “Yes dear,” Tom replied again, annoyance beginning in his voice. “All right. Be ready to leave at 5:30 sharp. I’ll want to have a drink in the bar before they seat us.” “I’ll be ready at your beckon call, so if there’s nothing else, I do have to get back to work,” Tom said. “That number crunching business can wait. I come first,” she said. “Goodbye dear,” Tom said with extra emphasis and hung up the phone. Veronica smiled to herself as she set her cell phone gently on the desk. She enjoyed giving him a hard time. Tom was a decent guy. Not the sort that she had envisioned herself married to, but at least he had drive and determination. He liked working with numbers, but she didn’t understand the allure. She preferred dealing with people, as frustrating as they can be at times.

Tom was waiting and ready to go promptly at 5:30 as promised, drumming his fingers impatiently on the table next to his lounge chair. Veronica, fashionably late, finally came down the stairs. He couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. She was forty five and didn’t show it at all. She had long blonde wavy hair and was wearing that little black dress that drove him crazy. She was as stunning as the day they met. Her smile, though he only saw it now and then these days, still made him weak. “Stop doing that,” she said. “Doing what?” but he knew. “Drumming your fingers. You know how I hate that.” “Are you ready yet?” Tom said. “Yes. Let’s go.” They arrived at the restaurant a good hour before the dinner reservations and made their way to an open table in the bar.

Veronica began to relax after her first drink. They didn’t talk as much as they did in their early years together. Probably normal for most couples, she thought. But she had to admit to herself, she was a bit bored. After all the discussions about each other, life, and philosophical points of view in their younger years of idealism, the drudgery of everyday work life had worn on her. She wasn’t sure she was unhappy with life in general or if it was something else. Something was missing. She felt emotionally drained most of the time. Tom wasn’t keeping himself in shape and she worried about his declining health. Although she felt a little selfish about it, she thought she deserved better. The only thing she had that really brought her satisfaction was the enduring success of her company. Still privately held by her, she had built it on her own and she was proud of that.

Veronica noticed Tom’s eyes glued to a dark haired woman across the room entering the bar. She was gorgeous. Dark smoldering eyes and a shapely figure. She was wearing a sexy red dress cut to mid thigh with a revealing low cut V in front. “See something interesting there hon?” she said. “I’m sorry.” “It’s ok, she is very pretty. How would anyone not notice?” She was followed a moment later by a man with neatly trimmed short dark hair, and a close cut beard. Dressed in casual slacks and a black turtleneck sweater that fit tightly on his chiseled chest. “There’s my eye candy”, she said. Something about him looked familiar. “It’s that casual smile. I know that smile. I know that man.” she thought. Her own smile widening across her face. “Jack?” she said half timidly but loud enough for him to hear across the room. He turned to look and their eyes locked. “Veronica?” he said. Now the dark haired woman turned to look as well, curious who might be calling out her husband’s name. Jack turned to her and said something privately before walking over to greet Veronica who was already halfway to him. Veronica ignored his extended hand and went straight in for a big hug. Jack, unsure at first, reluctantly returned the hug, immediately turning to look for his wife who had just made her way over as well. By this time, Tom had walked over to see who this guy might be that elicited such a smile from his usually sullen wife. “Veronica, this is my wife Jessica. Jessica, Veronica. We knew each other in college,” Jack said. “We actually dated for a while back then.” Veronica corrected him as she extended her hand to shake Jessica’s. “Well it’s very nice to meet you Veronica, and…” Jessica said, waiting for an introduction to Tom. “Oh, this is Tom,” Veronica said. “Your husband I presume?” “Oh, yes, I’m sorry, my husband.” Jessica and Jack exchanged handshakes with Tom and they all agreed to have a drink together before dinner and joined them at their table.

After some small talk Jessica said, “So I’m dying to know what happened in college with you two? You can skip the naughty bits. Everyone has a history after all, but what happened? Why did you stop seeing each other?” Jack looked at Veronica, cocked his eyebrow, grinned and said, “Ya, what happened? I don’t even know.” Veronica gave a nervous smile and said, “It was me. I wasn’t ready for anything serious and it seemed like it could go that way after seeing each other for six months.” “Wow, that’s a long term relationship by college standards,” Tom said and laughed. Jack and Jessica chuckled but Veronica didn’t even smile. She had never cared for Tom’s juvenile sense of humor and reminded him of it frequently. Veronica didn’t reveal to everyone the main reason she had ghosted Jack. She didn’t think he was driven enough for her, even though pretty much everything else about him she found very desirable. She felt that it was best to end it quickly before anyone got hurt, but it may have already been too late. Jack had doted on her, taken care of her, and took her everywhere. Life was a constant adventure with him. He was passionate in bed and took her to places of ecstasy that no one else ever had. “Even to this day,” she thought. He made her laugh, and she loved it, loved him maybe too, but she wasn’t sure at the time. It scared her. But it also scared her that he couldn’t decide what he wanted to do with his life and seemed to be content to coast along, taking basic freshman and sophomore classes, refusing to commit to any field. She knew what she wanted and never hesitated. She knew she wanted to be in business and she excelled at talking to people, figuring out what their business needed and knew how to help them with strategies to market and advertise. She knew it at a young age, and pursued it to the detriment of all other things.

“So what do you do Veronica?” Jessica said. I own V.S. Marketing and Advertising.” “What? You mean you own it? The whole company? Both divisions? That’s really impressive. Isn’t that something Jack?” Jack said, “I seem to recall hearing the name Veronica back when my company was looking for some advertising help a few years back. I wondered if that was you, but we ended up going with a different firm.” “Tom is a statistician for a manufacturing company in town.” Veronica said. “What about you Jessica?” “I’m trying to start my own company for the cosmetics line I’ve created. Jack was the real brains though. He helped me find the contacts I needed, especially scientists, and now he’s helping with the investors,” Jessica said. “Impressive.” Veronica said. “What about you Jack?” Tom asked. I’m an architect and Senior Partner at Victor and Associates.” “Wow Jack, I never knew you had such ambitions in college. You seemed so undecided and really carefree about it,” Veronica said. “I was. I was torn between math and science, which I love, but also the aesthetics and art world. Architecture seemed to be a good mix, or at least allowed me to dabble in each.” Veronica was shocked. “If I had only known then…,” she thought, but decided not to pursue that particular line of thought. The drinks turned into a shared dinner and the conversation continued non-stop. Jack and Veronica seemed to do most of the talking but there was laughter all around. They said their goodbyes after a good meal, shared phone numbers and agreed that they should do it again soon.

On the way home it grew quiet in the car. Tom could see that Veronica was still smiling as she looked out the side window while he drove. Tom wasn’t normally the jealous type, but he had to admit to himself that there was a little there tonight. Tom had been with Veronica around lots of other men, some of whom openly flirted with her right in front of him. It was humiliating for him at first, because she never tried to stop it, but the saving grace was that she never fell for it either. He suspected men hit on her all the time when he wasn’t around. After all, she was a very good looking woman and extremely successful and wealthy on top of that. He’d come to accept that she probably played along for schmoozing purposes, and it never went any further, but this was different. He’d never seen her giggling like a little girl as she had tonight. She almost seemed like a different woman around Jack. Jessica didn’t seem bothered at all. Jack never did anything flirtatious or said anything inappropriate, even though they obviously had quite a steamy romance years ago. Jessica knew implicitly that Jack adored her and wasn’t going to go anywhere. You could see it in his eyes, the way he looked at her, the way spoke to her and treated her with the utmost respect and kindness.

Veronica and Tom headed off to bed after a nightcap and some joking around about the evening and what a small world it was to run into people like that after twenty five years or so. Veronica couldn’t sleep. She lay there facing the wall, thinking about the way Jack smelled when she hugged him. How secure she felt in his strong arms. He still had that confident air about him that he had in college. She had thought of him many times through the years, wondering where he was, but never dared mention him to Tom for fear that her feelings might show. Laying there, she realized that she was falling in love with him all those years ago. She had stifled it, and found an excuse to run away, all because she didn’t think he would fit with her driven nature. She had listened to her head instead of following her heart. She had never realized the struggle he was having deciding on a career. Then to learn all these years later that he was just as driven as she was. All her old feelings came washing back in a flood. She felt the tears come and tried to stop them. They came anyway. Dropping silently to the satin pillowcase. She realized what a mistake she had made and told herself to stop feeling sorry for herself, but she couldn’t.

The four of them would get together on occasion for drinks and dinner. Veronica could tell that Tom was growing more unhappy with the situation, even openly jealous at times, which annoyed her even more. At one point he even accused her of having an affair with Jack, which of course had never happened. That just made her furious. However, she had to admit to herself, the fantasy had crossed her mind a few times late at night. “Those are private thoughts though. fantasies are just that and everyone has them occasionally. She would never act on them,” she told herself, and she knew Jack wouldn’t either. Which was another reason she was falling in love with him all over again. It was sad, but she accepted that life doesn’t always turn out the way you planned, and you have to accept the disappointments along with the successes. She enjoyed the time that she was able to spend with Jack and Jessica, as friends, and she really liked Jessica too. She treated Jack very well, so Veronica was happy that Jack was happy. A small consolation. She was careful not to cross any lines, and she had to check herself at times after she’d been drinking.

After a while, Tom stopped wanting to hang around with them. He really liked them both, but he was convinced something might be going on, or maybe he was just tired of feeling like he was the second choice. So over time, they only met up on a rare occasion. All Veronica had left was the picture of the four of them on her desk at work, which she found herself staring at constantly throughout the day. One day months later, Veronica came home from work to find Tom in the living room, his tie loosened around his neck but still in his business suit. A full glass of whiskey and a half empty bottle sitting on the table beside him. Before she could even get completely through the doorway, he blurted out, “I want a divorce.” Veronica didn’t know what to say. This seemed to come from nowhere, but she knew they had problems. She resisted at first. But after many nights of arguments about it, she realized that it may be for the best. Tom had made up his mind something was going on. Still, 20 years of marriage is hard to turn away from. After a mostly amicable but lengthy divorce they came to an agreement over the division of wealth. In the end, Tom accepted a sizable monetary settlement, with Veronica able to keep her company and most of her wealth intact, along with her retaining their home. The social gatherings with Jack and Jessica had stopped months ago shortly after their announcement of the pending divorce. It was just uncomfortable for everyone given the circumstances. Jack and Jessica went back to their own lives and Veronica to hers. No one heard from Tom after that. Rumor had it that he moved away and took another job. Veronica was left to her multi-million dollar mansion, and her company, with the picture of the four of them on her desk replaced by a photoshopped version of Jack alone.

A couple of years passed. Veronica was getting on with her life. She was over Tom, but wasn’t happy. She missed Jack more and more. She missed Jessica’s friendship too, but it wasn't the same. Thinking about Jack too long or too deeply, made her cry. He was the first thing she thought of in the morning, and the last before she fell asleep. Dreams of that life with him still came too, which was the only time she was happy these days, in her sleep. One Friday after work she decided to stop at that restaurant bar where they had run into him a few years ago. She saw him immediately, sitting at a table alone. She quickly walked over. “Jack! How are you?” she said. “Veronica. It’s so good to see you,” he said, smiling that casual smile she loved, but she could tell he was a bit sad. “What’s wrong Jack? I can tell something is bothering you,” she said. “Oh, I’m ok. It’s just, well, you know, the accident. Just thinking about that.” “No. I don’t know, what accident? Where’s Jessica?” she said, panic rising in her voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you didn’t know. I did wonder why you didn’t come to the funeral, but figured you had your own reasons, or you were mired down in your divorce. It was while you were going through that. A horrible tragedy. A guy fell asleep on the expressway and hit her head on. The doctors say it was over quickly and she didn’t suffer.” “Jack, I’m so sorry, I never heard,” she said through her tears. Jack and Veronica sat, catching up on the past few years. By the end of the evening, they were both smiling again. Gazing into his eyes, Veronica thought, “Maybe our story isn’t over after all.”