Randi

*Authors' note: Some time ago, I wrote a story called Dani, which was based on a conversation I had with the father of my late best friend, a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan back in 2008. It was about how his crippling grief, coupled with an already rocky marriage, nearly led to him having an affair with a woman his late son's age.

In my note on that story, I referenced a conversation I had with my dad the last time I went home, and this story I'm calling Randi, obliquely addresses the main topic of our very frank discussion.

In my dad's case, it was a high school friend he hadn't heard from since graduation. She sent him a Facebook friend request letting him know she'd been recently divorced and had been thinking about him. He showed me some photos of her, and she is still very attractive and also incredibly...friendly. For the record, my dad is a good-looking guy so I'm not surprised she was interested in him.

One thing led to another and the result was a very intense cyber and phone affair that nearly became real. Just as with my friend's dad, mine didn't cave, and it ended almost as quickly as it began.

This kind of thing seems to be a relatively common, or at least not an uncommon theme, in marriages that have lasted for 20-30 years or more. Then again, my marriage only lasted five years so I'm only offering my very subjective, anecdotal opinion. (In other words, I'm talking out of my ass.) :-)

Seriously, things like that happen many times every day somewhere around the world. The great thing about a fictional story is that unlike in real life, no one ever gets hurt.

Lastly, a reader recently emailed me to inform me she loved my stories, but would never read another one because 'I let my political views show'. In the story she referenced, I imbued an older man with conservative views and a love of Fox News, and she assumed that represented mine. I've occasionally provided glimpses into my views on politics (especially regarding the Second Amendment), but they are never the focus of any story, as my own personal views are irrelevant and of no interest to anyone reading romantic stories.

In this one, I openly share my views via the main characters, but even here, this is not an attempt to persuade anyone to adopt them as no one is ever convinced simply because someone else shares what they believe. Those beliefs are presented as a part of the story helping two people (who just happen to largely think like I do), fall in love. Politics isn't everyone's forte, but for some people, it's an extremely important part of their life and can certainly form the basis (or an important part of the basis) for a relationship.

I hope you'll enjoy this one as it isn't about me or politics—at all. It's a love story in which a common interest serves as the basis for a longterm relationship.

******

"Oh, check Facebook, okay? I posted some pics of my new cat."

He didn't say anything, but he'd never been a cat person and probably never would be. But because it was his daughter, he said, "Oh, sure. I'll take a look as soon as we hang up."

He was going to say goodbye, but she just had to ask. "Dad? Are you doing okay?"

For the last year or so, every time she called she asked. It was as though something might have changed in the days or maybe a week since the last time she called when there was no reason to expect things to be any different. Her mother had been gone nearly a year, and although he hadn't cried in several months, his life still felt hollow, and every day was a struggle. He knew she knew that, and he also knew she was only letting him know she cared, but he secretly wished she'd quit asking.

But again, because it was his daughter, he said, "Yeah, sure. Things are fine, honey."

As always, he turned it around on her knowing she was still hurting, too.

"The real question is, 'Are you doing okay'?"

"I guess," she said. "It's just so hard, you know? I still think about her many times every day and honestly, I'm almost dreading Christmas this year."

Professor David Eaton didn't want to think about trying to celebrate what had always been his wife's favorite holiday of the year. Right after Halloween, she'd start getting excited about decorations, the tree, buying presents, and getting everyone home in time for dinner on Christmas Eve. Last year, his wife had been gravely ill, and had passed away two weeks later.

"We'll get through it, Mac," he told his 26-year old daughter who was wrapping up her PhD studies in economics, just like her father had done. "You know your mom wouldn't want us sitting around moping and feeling sorry for ourselves. We've been doing that for the last year, and that's one year too many."

He paused for a second knowing he didn't believe a word of what he'd just said, then, more cheerfully, said, "Hey, maybe we should fly out to Seattle and visit Grandma and Grandpa this year. How does that sound?"

"Dad, you know I'm dating someone, and you know it's getting serious. I don't want to be away from him over Christmas. In fact, I kind of invited him to our house, and I'd really like you to meet him."

Eaton did in fact know that Mac, the nickname he and his late wife, Ruby, had used for their daughter, McKenna, as long as he could remember, was dating someone. When she was first learning to talk, McKenna would say, "Me Mac...Kenna." 'Mac' stuck and it almost seemed strange to use her full name.

He felt bad for her having lost her mother, but he was truly happy she'd found someone she seemed to really care about. Her father hadn't met him yet, but Mac had assured him many times he was a great guy, and that was good enough for now.

Like her late mother, Mac was a very pretty young woman, and had had all kinds of boyfriends over the years—especially since going off to college. Most of them her father had never met, and had he, he wouldn't have approved of very many of them. But she was finally ready to settle down after her upcoming graduation in May.

Eaton knew Mac wanted a career, but she also dearly wanted a husband and children. Now that her mother and best friend was gone, this seemed like a reasonable, logical next step. Then again, he knew a decision that important would be based on more than just logic and reason; it would certainly be based on love and mutual respect, qualities her parents had both displayed and instilled in her.

"Well, okay. I guess we can invite them to fly out here again. It just seems kind of unfair, you know? They've come out here five of the last seven years."

"Last year doesn't count, Dad. We had every intention of going out west, but Mom was so sick, and we were so depressed, no one felt like going anywhere."

Eaton's parents were in their 80s and still enjoyed traveling, but he knew it was becoming more of a burden than a pleasure. Even so, he told Mac he'd run it by them.

"Okay, Dad. I'll talk to you next week, and don't forget to check out the pics of Tinky."

"Right. Your new cat. Will do, Mac. Thanks for calling. Love you."

"Love you too, Dad! Bye."

He hung up and sat there staring out the window into the cold, late-Fall day and as always, his thoughts turned to her. Ruby was the love of his life, and life without her was well, somewhere between incredibly hard and...not worth living anymore. If not for Mac... .

Work had been a godsend in a way even though he was really tired of teaching economics to college students after nearly 25 years of doing so. Three years ago he'd started teaching grad school just to do something different, and yet it was essentially the same old thing. The only difference was he'd sit around with 10-15 students in a seminar setting rather than lecturing to 200. He had tenure, though, and that meant he'd always have a job for however long he felt like keeping it. Enjoying it was another matter.

He'd chosen the University of Montana in Billings after completing his PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle where he'd met his late wife. Ruby had been an undergrad when he began teaching classes for tenured professors too busy doing research to be bothered with something as insignificant as educating America's youth. They'd hit if off immediately and married within a year of their first date.

While Seattle was often gray and chilly, Montana got downright cold every winter. He decided long ago that an area's climate was a matter of tradeoffs and hadn't given it much thought since. After all, he had to live somewhere, and the places with what he considered more ideal climates were crawling with people and traffic so Billings seemed like a very reasonable choice.

David poured himself a cup of coffee then sat down and opened his laptop and decided to check out those pics, not so much because he wanted to, but because well, a promise was a promise.

He opened Facebook and went to go to his daughter's homepage and as he did, he noticed he had a Friend request. He would have ignored it, but he didn't get many of them, so he clicked on it hoping it wasn't yet another female grad student with a crush on him. He'd recently turned 51, but he looked and acted much younger and was still considered a very handsome man by women from college age to those older than him.

Now that he was single again, the flirting had, on occasion, gotten out of hand in spite of his relatively advanced age. When Ruby was alive he never took it seriously as he truly did 'only have eyes for her'. Now, when he could respond to the flirting, he had zero interest in it back let alone flirting back or acting on it.

"Oh, my goodness!" he said to himself when he saw who the request was from.

"I'll be damned," he said out loud when he opened it.

It was from a girl he'd gone to school with named Molly Wheeler. Her maiden name had been Jamison, and he'd always thought she was very cute back in high school. He'd only seen her once since graduation, and that was at their 20th reunion, and she'd gained a lot of weight. So if that was a current photo he was looking at, she'd lost it all and now looked good—really good. He accepted the request then noticed he had a message from her and opened it, taking a sip of coffee before reading it.

"Hi, David! Long time no see, huh? I've just gone through some major changes in my life, and they've kind of spurred me on to make a few more. One of them is catching up with old friends. Not that we're old or anything! Ha!

On a serious note, I heard about your wife. I never had the opportunity to meet her, but I am still so very sorry for your loss. In no way am I comparing my divorce (my biggest recent change) with the loss of your wife, but it's been a very tough couple of years for me. Again, it pales in comparison with your loss, but I guess my point is that life often deals us some crappy hands we're forced to play. Anyway, I am single again, and I was looking at our high school yearbook recently, and when I saw your photo, I decided to try and find you. You were so handsome when I knew you in high school! I never told you, but I had the biggest crush on you our senior year. :-)

I was also looking through our 20-year reunion photos (I really enjoyed seeing you there, btw) and couldn't help but notice you were even more attractive then. You're one of those guys who just keeps getting better with age! That is so not fair! :-)

I don't know if you know this, but I have a daughter named Randi. She's a truly amazing young woman (and gorgeous to boot!). Tragically, she lost her husband a couple of years ago, and it's been incredibly hard for her to move on. She has a daughter who's now four. The three of us are very close and spend a lot of time together. (As long as we don't talk about politics, things are pretty wonderful!)

I mention that because I seem to recall you telling me you also have a daughter who's around the same age as Randi. I hope all is well with her even though I know she has to still be hurting from having lost her mother so recently. Randi is just now finally beginning to recover from her own loss, and she's had a year longer than you and your daughter. You don't need me to remind you, but as I already mentioned, life can be so very unfair sometimes.

Anyway....what do you enjoying doing these days out in the wilds of Montana? Thanks to Randi, I've taken up hiking and yoga classes and have really gotten into music. I don't just listen these days; I'm actually playing the guitar and even trying to write. I can't say it's easy (or that I'm any good) but I'm having a lot of fun with it.

If I haven't bored you to death with my ramblings, I'd love to hear back from you, David. With any luck, maybe you'll drop me a line one day soon. Take care!

With fond memories, Molly (I'm going by Jamison, again, btw. I just haven't changed that on FB yet.)"

He sat there and smiled thinking about high school and all the people he'd grown up with, but that was the last time he'd seen most of them. He'd attended their 20th reunion and caught up with those who showed up—Molly among them—but less than 30% of their graduating class came to the reunion.

After rereading her message, he scrolled through her FB photos and saw that she had indeed lost all of the weight she'd gained and looked pretty incredible—especially in a cute little outfit she was wearing while doing yoga.

He smiled when thought about her looks and said to himself, "For someone our age."

He also saw a ton of pics of her daughter who was an even more attractive woman than her mom had been. Even without makeup, which was how she appeared in most of the posted photos, Eaton had to admit Randi was very good looking. For that matter, so was her daughter, although 'cute' or maybe 'adorable' were better words for a little girl that age. At four, she was definitely a cutie pie who had the sweetest smile he'd ever seen—well, since Mac, anyway, and it seemed very likely she'd grow up to be just as beautiful as her mother and grandmother.

Grandmother. Eaton found it hard to wrap his brain around that one. Were Mac to get married and have a child, he would be someone's grandfather. The thought was very pleasant on one level and deeply disturbing on another.

He couldn't help smiling again when he saw several pics with all three 'girls' posing for a photo. They seemed to be having a great time, and it made him miss Mac and especially Ruby and the years their daughter had lived at home. Of all the things he valued in life, being a dad was right near the top of the list with only being Ruby's husband ranking higher.

As he sat there reminiscing, Eaton couldn't help but think about all the other people he'd known growing up there in such a small town: neighbors, teachers, business owners, and family friends. It really had been a long time since he'd been home, and he made a promise to himself he'd try and get out there by next summer and check out the old stomping grounds. And who knew? By then he might just feel like dating again, and if Molly, or some other woman like her, was available and interested—oh, and interest-ing...who knew?

He closed his laptop, took another sip of coffee, then realized that for a few minutes anyway, he'd forgotten about the pain and grief which had relentlessly haunted him for the past year. It had been a most welcome and unexpected break, even though it didn't last long. Even worse was the way he suddenly felt guilty for having let her memory go even for a few moments, especially for some 'girl' he hadn't seen but once in...what? Thirty-two or thirty-three years? Still, it felt good not to feel bad even for a few brief moments, and for the first time since Ruby died, he almost felt hopeful.

Eaton re-opened the laptop and dutifully checked out all of the cat pics of Tinky, who was, as far as cats went, a cute little Persian kitten. As he was looking, he saw a post from Molly appear and remembered that they were now friends—at least on Facebook anyway.

It was another pic of her daughter, Randi, and her little girl whose name was evidently, Chloe. He was really, truly struck by just how attractive Randi was in this particular pic. She was wearing a little bit of makeup and her hair was nicely styled, and she was even more attractive than he'd assumed based on all the previous photos he'd seen.

Moments later, he found himself going to her home page and looking at virtually every post or photo she'd ever put on the social networking site in the last four or five years. It was two hours later when he finished looking, and yet if seemed like he'd just sat down and opened the first of many albums in her photo section.

Everything was laid out very logically starting with her own childhood, her parents, her friends, and ending with her high school graduation. The next album began with the summer following graduation and ended with her posting a first picture of her late husband whom she had just met the following year while in college.

The next album focused on her and her new boyfriend up through their engagement and that was followed by numerous wedding photos and ended with Randi smiling happily and holding up a home pregnancy test kit showing a big, pink +++ sign.

The final album was a collection of pics of Chloe from Randi's first sonogram through this most current pic. The saddest part was seeing the photos of her late husband, a police officer named Jason McConnell, who'd been killed in a shootout with an escaped convict that every cop in the Seattle area was looking for. There was a photo from his memorial service and another of his headstone, and Eaton knew all too well what Randi was going through.

There were quite a few pics of her and Chloe after the funeral, but the happy, ever-present smile was gone from her face. David could tell she was doing her best, but he could feel the pain she was experiencing as she pushed on for the sake of her daughter. And then there were the most recent pics from the last couple of months when he noticed the smile was coming back, supporting exactly what Molly had said about her finally starting to feel better.

He'd clicked 'like' on nearly every photo never stopping to think she didn't even know who he was, and when it hit him, he hoped she wouldn't think he was some old weirdo who'd accessed her homepage. Hopefully, she'd ask her mom who this David Eaton guy was and have a good laugh. Hopefully. Or perhaps she'd change her privacy settings and/or block him forever.

His concerns about what she might think of him were answered the following day as there was yet another Friend request and a message from none other than Randi.

His first thought was, "Uh-oh," but after opening it and reading what she wrote he felt a little better.

"Hi, Mr. Eaton. I'm Molly's daughter, Randi Wheeler-McConnell. I noticed you liked pretty much everything I posted, and I was wondering who you were until I noticed you and my mom were FB friends. I sent her a quick text and she told me you were a HS classmate. She also told me you were a 'hottie' but please don't tell her I said that, okay? But for the record, I can't say I disagree, though!

Mom says she's really hoping you might come out here for a visit a some point, but don't tell her I said that, either! She seems to think you might be headed our way during Christmas, and she'd be very unhappy if she knew I blabbed! :-)

Anyway, I'm glad you liked my pics, and in case it isn't totally obvious, yes, my daughter, Chloe, is the love of my life. She's already getting so big! I guess the only positive thing I can say about losing my husband is that being only two years old, she'll be spared the heartache of losing her father. I suppose that's a kind of Pyrrhic victory although maybe I mean 'bittersweet.' I'm better at math and chemistry than English so please forgive my illiterate-sounding introduction. Mom said you're a college professor, so I hope you won't be grading my feeble attempt to introduce myself too harshly!