Betty woke up smiling to the sunlight streaming in her room. Suddenly she jerked up and looked at the watch on her bed stand.
9:15! Rick will be here in 45 minutes!
With that thought Betty jumped out of bed and went straight to the bathroom.
Half an hour later, Betty came out of the shower in a white bathrobe, and opened her suitcase to see what she could wear for today. She zeroed in on a yellow sundress. Having adorned it, she straightened her hair and put them in a ponytail as usual. She put on pink gloss as the only concession to makeup. By ten, she was already in her flip-flops waiting for the bell to ring to announce the arrival of Rick. She hoped he hadn’t forgotten their date today, if one could call it a date.
The ring on her doorbell made her stomach do somersaults. She opened her door to look up into the eyes of Rick who was casually leaning on her door in his khakhis and a blue t-shirt with a surfer drawn on it. He looked delectable.
“Hi there” said Rick as he took in her appearance.
“Hi” replied Betty shyly.
“Aren’t you gonna invite me in?” asked Rick with a twinkle in his eyes.
“In? Umm… Yeah sure. Please…” said Betty a little confused, but still moving aside to let him in.
Rick just laughed and picked up the key on the stand next to the door and taking hold of Betty’s hand dragged her out. He shut and locked the door behind them and looped his arm for her and said “Mi lady?”
Betty smiled and took his arm as they both took the elevators down to The Patio restaurant of The Armada.
Breakfast was a simple affair with eggs – boiled for her, omlette for him, bread and fruit juice.
“So?” asked Rick expectantly.
“So...” said Betty hesitatingly.
“What about you filling me in as to what I am up against?” asked Rick with a smile.
Betty looked up at Rick a little lost.
“Betty?” urged Rick.
“Oh yeah. Well it is a long story…” and Betty proceeded to tell Rick about herself, Dave and Sam.
“I lived in a small town in Illinois – Ashton. Have known Dave since birth. He was my neighbor. My best friend, only friend in fact in grade school,” said Betty wistfully remembering her childhood and looking at her made Rick’s heart squeeze for a reason he could not comprehend.
Betty continued with her story, “I shared my first kiss with him when I was ten. I was in love and thought life would be perfect with him in it… beside me. He was my first boyfriend, don’t remember when we became a couple, but we were inseparable. We used to travel to school on the same seat in the bus. Used to sit on the same bench in class and shared our lunches. He used to come straight to my home after we returned from school. My mother made amazing pancakes for us and there was always a table set for him.” Rick smiled at her memories along with her.
“And if he wasn’t there within fifteen minutes I would be standing outside his door, which was not often. His parents used to fight a lot so I did not like going there. I did not need to go often as Dave was invariably at my place. I wrote his homework if he failed to do so. With his parents fighting so much, that was often. He was often disturbed because of that. As we grew up so did our love. I lost my virginity to him when I was sixteen,” Betty looked down after saying that. Rick felt uncomfortable sharing her private moments. But he needed to hear this.
Betty started again, “I felt I was the luckiest girl to be loved by Dave. He was the most popular kid in school and I was basically a wall flower. Too shy to make friends other than Dave.” She looked away towards the sea. Rick squeezed her hand to indicate his understanding. He knew it could be quite painful if you had no friends in your growing years. He was a late bloomer himself.
“During our last year in school we had applied to some colleges outside our small town. I was a better student than Dave and was a favorite with the teachers. So probably due to their recommendations I secured a scholarship in a good university. But Dave could not even secure admission there,” said Betty thinking of the past. Rick guessed what would come next but he hated to hear that.
“I opted to stay back in Ashton and do my further education through the community college there. We had plans of getting married as soon as we finished college and were settled in our jobs. He even proposed on Valentine's Day of our sophomore year. We hoped of starting a life right in Ashton. My dreams of a perfect life,” said Betty and then she looked down and continued, “But they were just dreams. Sam – Samantha was the daughter of the local mill owner. She came from a rich family and had looks to die for. All the local boys were crazy after her, except Dave… or so I thought,” finished Betty on a bitter note.
“Dave one day told me he needed a break and we should think deeply before deciding to go ahead with a strong commitment like marriage. To cut a long story short, few days after that I one day found Dave and Sam together in the back seat of her car…” Betty could not continue further. It still hurt.
Rick was getting angrier by the second on Dave for his insensitivity as Betty progressed with her story. He wanted to hit some sense into Dave for not appreciating Betty. But then if Dave had, Rick wouldn’t have met her. And so Rick kept quiet as Betty reached the end of her story.
“So that is it. I moved out of town the following year after my graduation. Worked few odd jobs, before I got my current job writing feature articles for this magazine – Élan. In short, I am doing alright with my life – though not so great as I thought I would or as great as Dave now thinks I do,” said Betty.
She went on, “You see I had this big plan – get married by 25, have a house by 28 with a white picket fence and a dog, have a kid by 30, have a perfect life” she ended on a sigh.
Betty smiled at her lost dreams and Rick felt sad for the little girl with dreams of a perfect life.
“Now I am 30, have no house, but have an apartment. No dog either and definitely no husband or fiancé for that matter. The kid is nowhere in sight too. And that perfect life is still out there…” said Betty wistfully.
The brave smile on her face made Rick want to take her in his arms and hold her.
“So there have been no others since Dave?” asked Rick incredulously trying to get to know her better.
“Oh no. There have been some but none who was ‘Mr. Right’. It just fizzed out and none fit into that dream of mine,” said Betty “in fact I almost thought I had it with my last boyfriend. Steve was really nice but it was a long distance relationship and it didn’t work out. But I am pretty sure that he will someday make a ‘Mr. Right’ for some really nice and lovely girl” added Betty with a smile and Rick felt like punching ‘the nice Steve’ in his gut.
Rick was surprised at the jealousy he was feeling for this unknown person.
He was stopped from his insane jealousy by Betty who wanted to know more about Rick, “So what about you?”
“Oh just work, work and more work. Too late I realized it pushed me away from my girl friend and she opted for someone who had more time and money for her than me,” replied Rick bitterly.
Betty felt sorry for him and so placed her hand over his. Rick seemed surprised at the contact at first. But then he smiled at Betty and that smile reminded her of the sun peeking from behind grey stormy clouds.
“So you work for Élan?” asked Rick trying to rub off the feeling of her innocent gesture.
“Yea. I was attending a conference here on behalf of Élan for the past few days and then decided to extend my stay taking a personal vacation,” replied Betty.
“Lucky me,” said Rick with a smile as he squeezed her hand which now lay in his.
Betty blushed at his compliment and looked down. It cheered Rick’s heart to see her happy.
“So what are you currently working on?” asked Rick conversationally.
“Effects of Coffee as a Night Cap,” replied Betty innocently.
Rick, who was having his own cup of coffee just then spurted out the drink on a cough. Betty just then remembered Rick’s offer of a night cap last night when he had invited her to a cup of coffee in his room.
“Umm… I mean… Are you… Are you alright?” asked Betty furtively.
Rick tried to cover up his action and said, “Yeah. I am fine.” He glanced at his watch and said, “It’s almost time. Should we go for lunch?”
Rick perceived the reluctance creep up in Betty’s features before she squared her shoulders and said, “Why not?”
She got up, hooked her arm through Rick’s and arm-in-arm they walked towards the beach restaurant – The Thatch.
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