The One Minute Decision

The One Minute Decision

“GET OUT! LEAVE!” Molly screamed with tears running down her face.  

“What do you mean leave?! “ He asked. She looked back at him, incredulous that he could even ask.  

“You cheated on me. You had her in my bed! In my home!”  

“Do you mean forever? Leave forever?” Sadness filled his voice. His eyes filled with hurt, regret.  

All of a sudden, Molly’s mind was flooded with memories. End it or try to save their marriage? Imaged flooded her mind, all the love, the life journey they had shared came flooding back, good and bad, since that fateful meeting 20 years ago . . . 

Fighting the bitter cold air biting at her skin amid the gentle falling snowflakes, Molly shuffled over to the bus bench. She wanted to sit down but a man was already there. “He looks clean and civil, I should be safe,” she thought to herself and took a seat on the bench.  

“Good afternoon,” he said.  

“For a cold one,” she chuckled. Molly turned her attention to her phone and sent a text to Bert, a maybe future boyfriend. He is in Nebraska sightseeing and thinking of moving there. “Hi, how’s it going? Are you having fun? What are you doing?” She texted and looked up to see if the bus was coming.  

“It will be a while,” her bench mate said. 

Molly’s phone beeped. Bert texted back, “It’s cold; I’m on a mountain now. It just started snowing, I have to get down before it gets too cold and I get stuck up here. I’ll talk to you in a couple of days.”

“Uhh,” she accidentally uttered out loud.

“Bad news?” The stranger asked. 

“Sort of,” she answered with a wry smile. “I guess it was more like enlightening news.”

“How so, if you don’t mind me asking. It seems we’ll be waiting here for a while.” He asked as he gently smiled, his warm brown eyes sincerely watching her.

“Well,” she slowly starts, “I’ve been seeing this man, Bert, for several months, this time. It just doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I think we’re just friends.”

“This time, so there have been other times?” A sly smile showed his curiosity was peaked.

Molly laughed. “Yes, yes. We met probably 10 years ago, went out a few times, then I saw him out with someone else and I didn’t call him or hear from him for a couple of years. Then he calls out of the blue and wants to go out. I wasn’t seeing anyone and I was bored so we went to dinner. That was it, nothing more intimate.”

“So you’ve never been close that way?”  

“Oh heavens, I can’t believe I’m talking like this with a stranger. It must be the cold and the snow.” They both laughed. 

“My name is Tony.” He had a calm, warm manner even on this icy winter day. “I know what you mean. It creates an ambience, almost like a private room. You can relax, I won’t tell anyone. If you want to continue, I’m here.”

“Nice to meet you Tony, I’m Molly. I feel like we’re in an igloo.” Molly pulled her coat and scarf tighter and continued. “So we made plans again for dinner and a movie at his house, then he cancelled at the last minute. So I didn’t answer the next time he called and that was it for a couple of years, then he calls again out of the blue. We have dinner, watch a movie, and catch up with what we’ve been doing. He called a couple weeks later to make plans then broke the plans at the last minute. At this point, I was very insulted.”

“That’s curious. I’ve known a couple of guys who were friends with women. They would sleep together if the woman wanted to but they would also just spend time together, having dinner.”

“I think that’s so they can tell their buddies that they are dating someone. This latest time with Bert happened because of the pandemic I believe. He called me to come over for dinner. He’s retired and doesn’t go out much, lives alone. I work from home and live alone so it’s pretty safe for us to see each other. All we do is eat dinner and watch TV. Then I go home.”

He took a deep breath, looked out on the street, then asked. “Do you want it to go further, truly?”  

“I’m not sure, it seems like it would be settling, making too many compromises. I wanted to push it so I could know what’s up, are we a couple or not? I don’t want to spend my life alone but he’s boring. We have little in common, we don’t really talk. As soon as I open my mouth, he cuts me off and starts talking over me!” She shook her head with frustration.  

“So what did this text say if that’s not too personal?”  

“He’s out of town travelling. I texted and asked what he’s doing and how’s it going. He texted back, “its going fine, I’ll talk to you in a couple of days.” 

“Wow. I don’t really see this going anywhere. He seems to be blowing you off.” 

“Exactly! And do you know what? He told me he asked eight friends to go with him on this trip and none could because they work or didn’t want to travel now. He didn’t ask me.” Molly voice dropped on the last word, her face turned a little pink. 

“It seems like maybe both of you are just filling space with each other. That’s not all wrong, sometimes you just need to be with people, but you also don’t want to waste too much time on that and miss a real opportunity.” 

“I’m not even that bothered. I feel a little, I dunno, embarrassed?” She said peeking up from behind her long blonde bangs.  

“Maybe it’s more loss, or fear there won’t be anyone else? Would you like to get a hot cuppa?” He asked with a warm smile.  

“What if we miss the bus?” Molly said with a shy smile.  

“There’s one every half hour.” Tony smiled.  

“Oh,” Molly smiled, “sure, let’s go.” 

That was 20 years ago; she never looked back or regretted spending her life with Tony, a man she met on a bench waiting for a bus.  

“What do I say?” She thought. “Do I throw away 20 years of family for a one minute mistake? This decision will change my life forever,” her thoughts were racing.  

“I can’t just act like nothing happened.” Molly struggled to get the words out. She didn’t want her family to end because of a mistake. 

“I made a bad decision. You have a decision to make that will change all of our lives. I love you Molly. I always have. I’ll make it up to you, no matter what it takes if you’ll just forgive me.” Tony promised.  

Molly decided a one minute mistake shouldn’t end a family.