Chapter 4

As the door closed behind Mike and Becky, Colleen turned to me and said, "I do NOT want to talk about anything before going to bed. I am bone tired from all the work you put me through and I am in no mood to discuss anything you might have on your mind. Goodnight!"

Wow! What a bold announcement. I wasn't going to take that from her. She wasn't going to treat our friends like she had without explaining why.

As she turned to walk away, I asked, "You spend damn near four hours with another man and you cannot take a few minutes to tell me what's going on? When will be a good time for you?"

"I don't know," she responded. "Maybe never the way I feel now."

"Oh, we will talk about things, and it will be sooner rather than later," I retorted, "because I have questions galore, including some about how you blatantly chose to ignore your many friends to spend the majority of this evening talking to a man you as much as said you despised when he arrived."

Tired or not, I had thrown down the gauntlet and her temper took over in self-defense.

"You want to know why I enjoyed him so much? Isn't that what you're really asking? Okay, I'll tell you. I found him to be a unique and interesting gentleman, totally unlike the person you made him out to be. He has a great sense of humor. He's intelligent, well traveled, and has many interests. We talked about life and real feelings. He told me about his life and I shared with him about mine. We talked about my dreams and about what I had once wanted to accomplish. I even asked for his advice on several matters. Bill is guy who is sensitive and tuned into those around him and he was very helpful. We also talked about my disappointments, and that brings me around to you and me.

All you and I talk about are your problems at work and how much time you have to spend just to keep your job. You constantly harp on your lack of sales, the petty little problems you deal with at the store, and how little money you're going to make this week and the next. I am beginning to find it hard to see you as anything but a failure. Sure, you won a few sales contests, but you are not supporting the family as you should and you don't seem to care. You could go back into teaching, but you won't, and I don't understand that about you.

Yes, I enjoyed Bill because talking with someone about something different for a change was refreshing. It helped me see the world from someone else's perspective. There's a lot more I could say but I won't. Suffice it to say, I had a wonderful evening up to a few minutes ago and I damn sure don't want you ruining what's left of it for me!