The Widower and the Old Maid

Melissa wasn’t looking forward to another wedding. She definitely wasn’t looking forward to going to her 20-year- old niece’s wedding when she was a 42-year-old old maid. Old maid, that wasn’t a term that was still used anymore, but that was how she felt.  She couldn’t even remember the last time she had been on a date. She had dated a lot when she was younger, but she hadn’t found anyone she was compatible with. Now, it was even more difficult; most of the men she knew were married. Her only options were the few divorced men she knew, but they only seemed interested in beer and football. Melissa wanted a man she could have deep conversations with. She wanted a man she wasn’t afraid to share the poems she wrote with. Although, she was afraid to share her poetry with anyone so that was probably wishful thinking. She had become resigned to the fact that she would probably be single for the rest of her life. It really only bothered her when she had to go to weddings, and she had been to a lot lately. Melissa was full of so many conflicting emotions. She was very happy for her niece, Amber, but she was also filled with loneliness. She decided writing a poem might help her sort out her feelings.

Happy But Lonely

I am so happy for you

But I am filled with loneliness

I love you so much

But when is it my turn

For love?

             Melissa wrote some of a poem, but she felt like it was garbage, so she crossed it all out. She then sat on her floor with tears streaming down her face. She thought, what is wrong with me? I’m a horrible writer.   Why do I think I can teach my students to write when I can’t even write myself? Why am I so emotional?  I can’t even think about going to a wedding without having a breakdown, no sane man would want to date me anyway.

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             Victor tried to pull on his dress pants. They didn’t button at first; he needed to suck in his gut to get them to button. He, sadly, remember the last time he had put on these pants. It had been two years ago for his wife’s funeral. He figured it had been all his stress-eating that had made his pants fit a little tighter. Sarah had died suddenly from a brain aneurysm. It had been a shock for Victor and his daughter, Eleanor, who had been five at the time. Lately, many of his friends had told Victor it was time to move on, but how did a 45-year-old single dad even move on anyway? His co-worker, Jason, had invited him to his wedding. 

             He said, “Hey, maybe you can meet someone there.”

Since Jason was only 22 Victor doubted there would be very many eligible women around his age at the wedding, but he just smiled and said he would be there. Victor didn’t think he would be compatible with a woman in her 20s and he doubted most of them would want to date a single dad, anyway. A ring at the doorbell startled Victor from his thoughts, was the babysitter here already?

“Hello,” Victor said as he opened the door, “Sorry, I lost track of time, what time is it?”

The teenage babysitter, Mary looked at her phone, “5:30.”

“Oh, no!” Victor exclaimed, “I need to go! There’s a frozen pizza you can make for dinner, thanks, Mary.” He gave Eleanor a hug and kiss and started to run to his car.

“Um, Sir,” Mary said unsure.

“What?” Victor asked, a little annoyed.

“Um… you don’t have a shirt on.”

Victor’s cheeks turned red as he looked down at his bare chest. He got so distracted after he put on his pants he had forgotten to put on a shirt. “Oh, wow! Thanks, Mary.” He went into his room and grabbed the first dress shirt he saw.

Victor tried to put his shirt on while he was driving, but it was too difficult to button up while driving. He raced to the church saying to himself, “don’t be late, don’t be late.” When he got there, it was 5:55, the wedding was supposed to start at 6. He ran inside, buttoning his shirt as he went. He sat down in an open spot at the back of the sanctuary.

*    *           *           *           *           *           *           *           *

             Melissa tried not laugh as she noticed the man who sat down at the end of the pew she had been sitting in. He had clearly been trying not to be late to the wedding. She noticed he missed a button on his shirt. She figured she didn’t have a right to laugh anyway. She had almost missed the wedding because she had been crying about her loneliness. As she kept looking at him, she noticed he was kind of handsome. He was bald which Melissa found quite attractive. He had some stubble on his face. It seemed like he had either forgotten or hadn’t had time to shave before the wedding, but Melissa couldn’t stop looking at his face. She thought, I wonder what it would be like to kiss him. She tried to look at his left hand to see in he was wearing a wedding ring, but then he looked at her and she turned away. She blushed when she realized she had been staring for quite a while.

*    *           *           *           *           *           *           *

After the woman turned away, Victor continued looking at her. She was beautiful. He realized it was the first time he had thought that about another women since Sarah had died. The woman he was looking at had dark, ringlet curls that shaped her face perfectly. He wished he could move closer so he could see what color her eyes were. He wondered if she would mind dating someone with a daughter.  Then he realized he was getting way ahead of himself. He didn’t even know this woman.

“You may now kiss the bride!”

Oops, Victor and Melissa thought simultaneously, they had both missed the whole wedding because they were busy thinking about each other.

At the reception, Victor and Melissa happened to be seated next to each other. 

Melissa noticed Victor wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, “Hi I’m Melissa,” she said shyly.

“I’m Victor, how do you know Jason and Amber?”

“Amber is my niece, what about you?”

“I work with Jason.”

“Oh, you work at the lumberyard, too?” Melissa wondered what his biceps looked like under his long-sleeve shirt.

“Yes, what do you do?”

Melissa shocked herself when she said, “I’m a writer. I mean, I like writing. I’m a teacher.”

“Oh, really? I have a 7-year-old daughter. What grade do you teach?”

“I teach middle school English.”

“I bet you’re great at that.  What do you like to write?”

“Well, I write poems sometimes.”

“I’d love to read one sometime.”

“Well, I don’t really share them with people, I don’t even know why I told you about them.” Melissa looked around the room for a place where she could be alone with her embarrassment.

Victor sensed that she wanted a change of subject, “This is the first wedding I’ve been to since my wife died.” Then he realized his mistake, talking about his dead wife probably wasn’t good flirting material.

Melissa didn’t seem to care about his awkwardness, “I’m sorry, she said, “when was that?”

“About 2 years ago, she had a brain aneurysm, so she just died unexpectedly one day.”

“That must have been very hard.”

“Yes, but um, sorry, I didn’t mean to be a bummer. What about you? Have you been married?”

“No, I’ve never been married.”

“Well, maybe we’ll have to change that some time.” He couldn’t believe those words came out of his mouth, “Sorry, I clearly don’t know what I’m doing,” he laughed.

Melissa smiled, “Is this our first date?” she teased.

Melissa and Victor talked for most of the wedding. They learned so much about each other. Victor told Melissa all about Eleanor and she seemed to be sincerely interested. Melissa told him about her job teaching and about how she had a dream to be a writer, but she didn’t think it would ever happen. 

Eventually, the bride and groom were cutting the cake. Victor looked at his watch, “Oh no, it’s 11:00! I told my babysitter I’d be home by 11. I need to go.”

They exchanged phone numbers quickly and promised to see each other again. As Melissa watched him leave, she thought it was possible she might not be single forever.

As Victor lay in bed that night, his mind kept wandering to his conversation with Melissa. It had been wonderful; he was so excited to see her again. He was trying to remember the last time he had felt like this. Then he realized it had been 20 years ago, after his first date with Sarah. He realized it could be possible to fall in love again.