Nice Guys Sometimes Laugh Last

Eric sensed something was going on with Tara but until now he had no reason to be suspicious. "Guess I will find out tonight." Eric said to himself as he went to his car and drove home.

When Eric arrived at Tara's house she sat him down and cut right to the chase. "So yeah there you have it. It is not another guy like I am sure you were thinking." Tara said as her eyes were bloodshot and cheeks puffed up from crying.

Much to her surprise, though Eric was upset he never raised his voice or threw a tantrum like she expected. Instead he just held her and listened to her as she had to make one of the toughest choices in her life.

"Well you are a smart girl and honestly I never thought I would get this far with you."

"Stop it right there Eric. Stop selling yourself short. You are a wonderful man. I count myself very lucky to have you in my life. That is why this is such a tough choice."

Eric knew that even though she cared him, that she would never forgive him if things ever got bad between them. And that is something he would not be willing to live with. "I am not going to tell you what to do but as much as it hurts, if you decide to go then you have my full support." Eric said while hugging her tightly.

"This sucks so fucking bad Eric, you just don't know. Why couldn't I have met you like a year ago or something." Tara wailed.

"Because that would make things too easy, life is about the struggle." Eric tried to joke.

"Always the jokester, even at a time like this." Tara said wiping her face, and laughing a little. "I am asking you what do you think I should do?"

"Honestly I think you should go for it, and hell I'm not going anywhere. So if it doesn't work then you come back and we pick up where we started. But who knows you may meet some knight in shining armor, and I will be some distant memory."

"Well I haven't decided anything yet. So don't go talking crazy just yet." Tara said leaning into Eric as he hugged her.

Hearing her say that Eric knew he was on borrowed time, and decided to cherish these next few weeks with her. There was no passionate sex that night. Just somber silence.

The next day after much debate, Tara decided to go through with it. Knowing that as great as things were with Eric she would secretly began to loathe him and blame him for holding her back. So when she put in her notice she made a call to Sheldon.

"This is wonderful news Tara. You will love it here in Saint Louis. I can't wait for you to meet everyone." Sheldon said.

"You sound like you hit the jackpot Sheldon." Tara teased.

"I feel like I have. Convincing you and Marcus to come on board has been no easy feat."

"Ok whatever you say Sheldon. Anyway let me get off of here. I was just calling to tell you that I made my mind up."

Going through all that drama with Nicole toughened Eric a great deal. Even though he was not happy about losing Tara, he took it as a great learning experience and if he could he would do it all over again and not change a thing.

Later that day Tara finally came into the office and offically told Eric her decision. They both cried, but ultimately agreed it was the best choice. During Tara's last week in town Eric took off work so he could spend as much time with her as possible. In Eric's eyes it was one of the best weeks he has ever had, and though he was sad it was about to end. He knew it could not end on a higher note.

"Well I guess this is it." Eric said as he helped Tara load the last of her belongings.

"Yep I guess so." Tara said somberly.

"Hey remember you promised no tears young lady." Eric said with a strained smile.

"I never promised anything. I said I would try, and as you can see I am not doing a very good job." Tara said as tears started to well up.

"Yeah that's right." Eric said fighting back tears of his own. "Well you better get going you have a long drive ahead of you." Eric said reaching in to give Tara one final hug.

"Yeah I guess you are right. You know if you ever visit Saint Louis you will have to look me up." Tara said breaking away from Eric's embrace, then hopping into the moving truck.

"Will do." Eric said, as he stood in the driveway, waiting for Tara to drive off.

When Tara first moved to Saint Louis they kept frequent contact with each other. But as time went on they still kept in touch with each other, but it was just not the same. Eric figured Tara had moved on to someone else but just didn't have the heart to tell him. After awhile Eric got to the point to where he enjoyed being single, and was ok not having a lady to warm his bed every night.

One night while he was grocery shopping Eric spied Nicole a few isles over. It had been at least a year and a half since he had seen her. And though she still looked good as ever, Eric still had some built up resentment towards her. So he quickly tried to finish shopping so he could avoid bumping into her. It was too late, because before he could finish shopping Nicole caught up to him.

"Hey stranger." Nicole said as if nothing had happened. "How is it going?"

By this point Eric was hoping to just exchange pleasantries then leave. So he decided to answer her questions as quickly as possible then leave. "I'm doing pretty good I can't complain."

"Well I see you are still taking care of yourself."

"Yeah I try." Eric said looking at the ground shuffling his feet.

"So how are you and Tara doing?" Nicole asked.

Eric thought about lying but knew Nicole could always tell when he was telling a lie. So he told her the truth. "Yeah she moved to Saint Louis some time ago."

"Well that sucks. I knew you really liked her."

"Yeah you did a good job of telling me that remember."

"Yeah I remember. And I still feel bad about that to this day."

"Yep. Well anyway I best get going you take care of yourself." Eric said walking to the check out line.

"Wow there is something different about him. I can't put my finger on it, but he is not the same Eric I knew. Hmm I bet he is not seeing anyone and I am not attached at the moment. Maybe I should shoot him a text to see if I still have some pull with him." Nicole said to herself, as Eric walked away.

A few days later while on his way home from work Eric's phone buzzed. "Who could this be." Eric said as he picked up the phone to see it was a text from Nicole. "Some people never learn." Eric laughed to himself and erased the message without even reading it.

-the end well at least for now anyway.