Prologue

Charlie Swenson

April 20, 2006

OH ... MY ... GOD, I’m gonna kill her, I swear to God I’m gonna kill her. Jen’s gone way too far this time. (Jen is my favorite bartender.) Yes, I have to admit, for the last 15 years, I usually get a kick out of the way she teases me but this time she really went off the rails!

It’s just that, ever since she and Tom (Tom is the bartender at the other end of the bar.) hooked up about five years ago, she’s been intent on fixing me up with someone. “Charlie, you gotta get back in the saddle again!”

I keep telling her, “Jen, when the time is right it will happen.”

As I got up, I hollered at her, “Dammit Jen, you know I can’t dance for shit! What possessed you to do this?”

She just looked at me and laughed, as she shooed me toward this pretty blonde pixie, WAY down at the other end of the bar.

“You’ve been flirting with her for almost an hour Charlie. I wasn’t waiting for hell to freeze over, so I bought her a drink for you!” Still laughing, she yelled, “Hurry up you old fool, or one of the ‘Three Stooges’, is going to beat you to the punch!”

“I should get so lucky! The next song is probably gonna be more of that ‘disco dung’.” I told her, as I turned around and headed toward my unsuspecting victim.

‘Wow’ I said to myself, as I started getting close enough to really see what she looked like. She’s really pretty ... and young ... Damn, she’s not gonna want anything to do with my middle-aged ass. Especially when she sees me dance ... maybe I’ll get lucky and get a slow song. Oh shit, one of the ‘three stooges’ is heading straight for her.

She was looking straight at me and I suddenly felt my heart screaming, “Hurry up fool, you’re going to lose her!”

Her eyes seemed like they were pleading with me to hurry. Her blue eyes were like sapphires twinkling and they were looking directly into my soul.

My God, something is happening to me here. For Christ sake, my palms are sweating!

“Breathe Charlie, just b r e a t h e.” I could almost hear Mary’s voice.

Then, just as I got within a few feet of her, one of the stooges had cut me off and his buddy was already asking her to dance.

“Aw ... HELL,” I thought, as I dejectedly turned away, “This can’t really be happening!”

But then, ... I heard a sweet voice behind me saying, “Oh gee, I’m sorry, but this gentleman over here bought me a drink and I owe him at least one dance.”

It took me a moment to realize that she was talking about ME!

With eyes as big as baseballs, I spun around and saw the second-most delightful smile I’d ever seen in my life. She was literally running towards me, with her hand out, wanting me to take her out on the dance floor.

“Hi,” she said, “My name is Andie, thanks for rescuing me from that moron.”

I was chuckling, “Hi, my name is Charlie and I’m probably the worst dancer on the face of the planet, but, I AM at your service, milady. I never leave a damsel in distress!”

She gave me a strange look, then started giggling, “Don’t worry, I’m not all that much of a dancer myself, I usually PLAY music, not dance to it, so let’s just go for it.”

I was really hoping for a slow song, but, about three notes into “Mony, Mony”, and I knew I was doomed.

At least Andie didn’t seem to mind my ‘Choo-choo Charlie’ style of dancing. We just kept looking at each other and smiling as the song boogied on.

Andie looked strangely familiar, but I couldn’t place where I might have seen her before.

We never took our eyes off of each other, though. The world seemed to shrink and for some reason, a feeling of déjà vu began creeping into the back of my mind. I was actually getting goose bumps trying to figure out what it was that I was feeling.

When the song ended, I started walking her back towards her seat.

Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment like This” began to play.

Suddenly I just turned and before I could say anything, Andie looked into my eyes and said, “Will you give me one more dance.”

Chapter 1 »