Chapter 8

For the remainder of the summer, Noah would every so often be mentally kicking himself in the ass thinking he should have stayed longer in Gulfport despite the heat and humidity. Having those feelings was offset by the dates he was having with Denise. She was fun to be with and he was developing serious feelings for her. It seemed to him or he was hoping that she felt the same way about him.

Noah hoped that Denise wasn’t seeing someone else besides him. He couldn’t be absolutely sure if she was or wasn’t, because there were two times when he asked her out on a Saturday that she declined, saying she had another unnamed commitment. While he was occupying most of her time on the weekends, he didn’t know for sure if she was seeing someone other than him.

In reviewing the emails Bonnie was receiving, he noticed a number of them were from readers who were requesting relationship advice. For something different to do, his next columns were on the questions he was asked and what his responses were to those questions. Doing that resulted in him receiving more requests for relationship and social advice.

This put Noah in a quandary as he wasn’t sure what to do. Should he or shouldn’t he continue to give this advice? Rather than decide on his own, he bounced that question off Stan. Stan wasn’t quite sure what to do either. Stan did make a laughing comment that Bonnie’s comments on relationships were probably ending more relationships than they were saving.

After a discussion over a few beers at Lenny’s, they made a tentative decision. They decided that Bonnie should alternate her columns for a while. Every Thursday’s column would be on relationship advice, with the other columns being as she had been doing in the past. They would try doing that for a while and see how it goes.

Bonnie’s column in giving this advice Stan later said pissed off Martha Mayberry who wrote a column giving relationship advice. To appease Martha, Stan said she could write a column on a topic other than that once in a while as Bonnie does. Maybe she would write a column that was in opposition to the advice Bonnie had given. This seemed to pacify Martha and she said she already had a few columns in mind.

With school now back in session, that meant the football season had also started. While Noah enjoyed attending his school’s football games, he enjoyed even better attending UT’s football games. Denise was gifted two tickets for UT’s games from a television sponsor of the team’s games. While the games were interesting to watch, Noah thought because of the large crowds, it was a madhouse in the stadium.

An interesting thing happened at school. During Noah’s lunch period, a new teacher Kerrie Sullivan was making a point to sit with him at his table. It seemed to him that she would wait till Noah was seated before she would decide where she would sit.

Kerrie was a little younger than Noah and was divorced. She was attractive and while she had a nice personality, it was his opinion that she was a little too pushy. To Noah, it seemed like she wanted to get something going with him. He wouldn’t mind a roll in the hay with her, but something in the back of his mind told him not to do it. It seemed that if he did, there would be trouble as she would expect him to continue to do it and maybe would want to legalize the relationship.

To put to rest her idea of having a relationship, he started to talk about what he had done with his lady friend during the weekend. He avoided telling her that his lady friend was Denise Edwards the newsreader on Channel Four. His telling what he did indicated to Kerrie he was not available. He did notice that she was no longer seeking him out during the lunch period and now was sitting with Bob Granger.

In writing a column on relationship advice, one of the requests he responded to was from a young man.

This man sent an email saying, “I have been dating a lady who I feel I am in love with. While she seems to like me, I don’t know if she loves me, as neither of us has ever said the L word. I would like to ask her to marry me, but I am not sure how she would react to my proposal. What should I do?”

Noah responded, “Well..., you are going to need to find out the answer to that by telling her of the feelings you have for her. If you don’t, she may feel you are not interested in her and she will be looking to find someone interested in her. I would suggest you go to a jewelry store, a store that has a thirty-day return policy, and purchase an engagement ring. When you think the time is right, drop to one knee, tell her you love her, show her the ring, and pop the question. Her reaction will tell you if she loves you or if you need to return the ring. If she has been dating you for a while and not seeing anyone else, the chances are good she will accept your proposal.”

Noah then went on to the next request for advice he received, but halfway through responding to it, he stopped. Thinking about his last response, it dawned on him that he was in a similar situation and he needed to take his own advice. The more he thought about it, the more he thought he would do what he suggested.

Purchasing the engagement ring was an easy thing to do. It was finding the right time to propose that was presenting a problem. He was looking for a romantic place or time to do it. He finally came up with a way to do it.

Christmas time was approaching. His parents had invited him to come over for Christmas Day dinner. He said he would be there, but said he would be bringing a “friend.” For some reason, his mother knew better than to question who this “friend” was.