The Meeting

“Oh, shoot!” Kate muttered irritably.

She had stubbed her toe against the metal leg of the serving table where she was passing out food to recipients of the ongoing outreach program organized by her church. Even her thick boot couldn’t protect her from the stinging pain of that unexpected collision.

Kate had tried so hard to remain focused all day but her troubled mind kept getting in the way. Now, she had a throbbing toe to remind her to get her head back in the game and stop drifting off mentally.

Kate scanned the crowd of volunteers going about their tasks to see if she would spot a familiar blond hair with a faded undercut among them, but she didn’t. Her heart sank with disappointment. Where on earth was Kevin?

“Do you need some help here?” A rich male voice asked near Kate, bringing her back to the moment.

She looked at the man who had spoken and found herself looking into a pair of warm brown eyes belonging to a good-looking male specimen from another generation. The man was dressed in a beige polo shirt, a tan denim jacket, a pair of faded blue jeans, and tan patent leather boots.

His full black hair was already greying at the temples and his dark chocolate skin radiated with health. There were barely any wrinkles on his face, save for the crinkles near his eyes, which told Kate that this was a man who laughed a lot.

“Are you a volunteer?” Kate asked the man.

“Yes,” he replied promptly. “I was at the church service when this outreach program was announced a few days ago, so I decided to join and do the little I can to help the windstorm victims.”

Kate smiled at the man and asked, “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“Guilty as charged,” said the man, grinning and displaying a mouthful of straight white teeth.

“I’m in town for business,” the man continued. “I thought I might stick around for a few days and get a feel of this place.”

“You came to Sommerville to do business?” Kate asked in surprise. “There’s nothing here. Why would you come to this unknown little town in Wyoming to do business?”

The man chuckled and said, “Actually, my business interest is in Sundance. I came here out of curiosity and because it’s a stone's throw from my hotel.”

“I see…” Kate said absently and scanned the crowd again. Kevin is still not there.

“So, can I help you?” The man asked Kate, distracting her again.

“Sure, go ahead,” she answered and stepped aside to make room for him behind the serving table.

Kate wasn’t exactly a short woman at 5 feet 6 inches in height, but she was instantly dwarfed by the man now standing beside her. She guessed he might be around 6 feet 2 inches in height, which was way taller than Kevin who was only three inches taller than her.

Kate got a whiff of his exotic cologne and she could tell that this man not only had style but a good taste in fragrances as well.

“My name is Tony, by the way,” he said and extended his right hand to Kate.

“I’m Kate,” she said and accepted his handshake. His grip was firm and brief.

From the softness of his hand, Kate assumed that the man probably got manicure treatments regularly or simply never did any hard work with his hands. She generally believed that men were meant to have hard palms, not soft, comforting ones.

“So, here’s what you’ll do,” Kate said and showed Tony how to stack each paper plate with a sandwich, eggs, and sausage. The food is accompanied by a cup of coffee or tea, depending on the receiver’s preference.

Tony got the hang of it real fast and with his help, more food got handed out quickly, shortening the queue in no time. Kate couldn’t help but be impressed by Tony’s efficiency. They worked in companionable silence, dishing out food and passing them to those in need.

Once all the food had been handed out, Kate began to pack up the coolers and remaining paper plates and cups. Without waiting to be told, Tony joined her.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she told him quickly. “You’ve been a great help already.”

“I don’t mind,” said Tony casually and he continued to clean up with her.

Kate found this man’s humility very refreshing. Kevin would never. He was supposed to do the food duty with her but for whatever reason, he’d bailed on her. It was one of the things she disliked about him, aside from his arrogance and selfishness.

The only thing Kevin had going for him was his good looks and charm. That was why Kate fell for him. It was why she always overlooked his bad behavior even though she knew she should break up with him, particularly when he started making passes at her best friend, Wendy, and she’d told Kate about it.

Kevin had apologized to her repeatedly and promised never to cross that line again with Wendy. But he’d crossed with other ladies multiple times and called it, ‘harmless flirting.’

She should have cut him loose long ago, but now it was too late. She was about to be stuck with her toxic boyfriend forever because of her carelessness.

“Are you alright?” Tony asked Kate softly. “You seem distracted.”

“I’m fine,” she responded quickly with a forced smile. “I think we’re done here. Thank you very much for your assistance, Tony.”

“You’re welcome,” Tony replied with a smile.

“Bye then,” said Kate before grabbing an empty cooler in one hand and a stack of unused plates in the other and walking briskly away from Tony.

As Kate marched towards her car, a wave of nausea stopped her in her tracks. She inhaled a lungful of air and let it out slowly before continuing her walk to the vehicle.

It was a miracle that she’d managed to get through the food task without throwing up and causing a scene. It was getting more and more difficult to keep her current condition a secret. It was only a matter of time before she got exposed.

“Damn you, Kevin,” she muttered angrily as she started to stuff her burden in the trunk of her fairly used blue Mini Cooper, a graduation gift from her dad when she finished college four years ago on her 21^st birthday.

Kate pulled out her mobile phone from her back pocket and dialed Kevin’s number. Her call went straight to voicemail.

Kate gritted her teeth in frustration but decided to leave a message anyway.

“Hi, Kevin. Please, call me as soon as you get this message,” she said hastily. “No, it’s not about you flaking on me for the outreach thing. It’s about something else. Something very important. Please, call me, OK? We really need to talk.”

Another wave of nausea hit Kate so hard that she actually gagged. She held onto her car for support while breathing deeply.

“There you are!” Wendy’s chirpy voice burst through Kate’s misery.

She was dressed in a pink jumpsuit that made her look like a chocolate bar wrapped in bubble gum. Her braided hair was tied in a ponytail, revealing her beautiful angular face in all its melanin glory.

Kate always wished she was as strikingly beautiful as Wendy. Instead, all she had going for her was her huge mane of 4B hair which she inherited from her maternal grandmother. Her hair was a nightmare to take care of, but she dared not cut it. Or else, the entire population of Sommerville would send her into exile for committing such a heinous crime against their precious hair which happened to be growing on Kate’s head.

“Sheesh, you look terrible. Are you OK?” Wendy asked her bestie.

“Thanks, I’ll be fine,” Kate assured her. She was feeling much better now.

“Great,” Wendy said breezily and perked up again. “So, I was over there with the ladies, handing out blankets and stuff, and I looked in your direction and saw a glass of dark coffee with no sugar or cream, standing beside you as if he belonged there. Who is he?”

“Are you talking about Tony?” Kate asked.

“Is that his name?” Wendy asked with huge eyes. “Is he married? Divorced? Single? What?”

“I don’t know, Wendy. I didn’t ask.”

“Ugh, Kate! Why are you so slow when it comes to gathering intelligence? I need to know more about that man. He’s clearly not from around here.”

“Relax, Wendy. The guy is old and that means he’s definitely married and probably has grown kids.”

Wendy shrugged indifferently and said, “I’m going to assume he’s single and unattached until we can prove otherwise. That was the same way we assumed John was married with kids, but he wasn’t.”

“And he turned out to be a pervert looking for young women to do dirty stuff with him on camera for his adult entertainment website,” Kate said dryly.

“Well, everyone isn’t John,” Wendy argued stubbornly. “I should probably introduce myself to this Tony guy and see what I can find out about him.”

Kate sighed and shook her head slowly. “What’s with you and older guys, Wendy?”

“They’re more responsible than these young men running around and trying to make every girl their baby mama,” Wendy answered promptly.

“I’m not about that life,” she continued. “I want to be with a man who can pamper me and give me the good life I deserve. A man who will rescue me from being just an ordinary school teacher in this boring town and take me around the world instead. Is that too much to ask?”

“I guess not,” Kate replied dully. Wendy was right about young men and their narrow-minded desires.

Kate wasn’t sure that Kevin would do right by her once he discovered that she was carrying his baby. He was a very unpredictable person.

“Oh, it looks like he’s leaving,” Wendy said excitedly, inclining her head toward the exit of the camp where Tony was talking with the county mayor.

“See you later, bestie. I’ve got to meet that man,” said Wendy before rushing off.

Kate admired her friend’s perpetual cheerfulness. She and Wendy have been friends since middle school. They were opposites in personalities but that has worked out very fine for them.

While Kate was a moody introvert who enjoyed her own company, Wendy was a lively extrovert, the life of the party, and the most congenial person in Sommerville. The only similarity the two ladies shared was their slender stature.

Kate used to spread herself on the lawn outside their home, hoping to darken her caramel skin under the sun until it looked like Wendy’s. Her skin tone was yet another thing she inherited from her grandmother who died when Kate was a toddler.

She has since outgrown that childish desire and accepted herself the way she was. If everyone said she was beautiful, she must believe it too. They can’t all be lying to her, right?

Her phone started to ring. It was Kevin calling her. Kate instantly became nervous.

“Hey,” she said shakily when she answered the call.

“Hey, babe,” Kevin said brightly. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it to the volunteering thing. I had a last-minute work stuff to deal with.”

“Kevin, you don’t work on Saturdays,” Kate reminded him.

“Yeah, this was something rather urgent and very important,” he claimed.

Kate bit back a sharp retort. There was no point in starting an argument over a stupid lie. That wasn’t the purpose of this phone call.

“You said you had something important to tell me,” Kevin continued casually. “What is it?”

“It’s not something we can talk about over the phone,” Kate said mysteriously.

“Oh, man. Did you kill someone? Do you need me to help you hide the body?” Kevin joked.

“That’s not funny, Kevin,” Kate said seriously.

“Relax, babe. If you didn’t kill someone, then it can’t be that serious,” Kevin laughed.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Kate said impatiently.

“Alright, fine. Come on over, and we can talk over a plate of pasta and the juiciest meatballs you ever tasted,” said Kevin.

“You don’t have to cook. I’m not hungry,” Kate said quickly. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

She hung up immediately and blew out the breath she didn’t know she was holding in. Why was she so nervous? What was the worst that could happen once she broke the news to Kevin?

Besides, she had already set the ball rolling and there was no backing out now. In a couple of minutes, her life would change drastically but there was no telling if it would be a good change or not.