Chapter 73

Two weeks before the wedding, family started drifting into town. We had guests at dinner almost every night. Sabrina was among the early arrivals. She seemed fascinated with Jeff and tried to be subtle when asking about him. I guess in a way she was subtle. I couldn't figure out her agenda. It was even possible she didn't have one.

"Jeff is so different from every other guy you've ever gone out with. What led to this change?"

"Jeff is pretty much different from every other guy. It would have been impossible to go out with somebody like him before."

"What attracted or attracts you to him?" she asked.

"Well, of course, you can see he's the hottest guy out there."

She looked at me with surprise and quickly covered it up by smiling. "I can see that," she said slowly.

"I'm just screwing with you," I said.

She laughed. "You know, he actually is kind of adorable. The way he thinks about things and the stuff he knows. And he is pretty funny. That's quite a package."

"I guess you have your answer," I said.

It was not like Sabrina to take this kind of interest in someone. It gave me an uneasy feeling. On the other hand, she sounded completely sincere. I really believed it was obvious to her how somebody could be in love with him.

Jeff's company, Second Foundation Biomed, had a corporate condo for important visitors. Jeff had arranged to rent it from them starting when we returned from our honeymoon until we found a place we liked. I saw it the week after graduation and agreed it would do nicely.

When we left the car to enter the building we were greeted by people we didn't know in the parking lot. They said hi to "Ashley" and "Jeff." It was a strange experience.

It kept on getting stranger. As we walked from the condo to a restaurant for breakfast, people on the street were greeting us by name. Jeff had a look of confusion. I know I did.

Our waitress came over and said, "Hey, Jeff and Ashley. I'm Monica. I'll be your waitress. What can I get for you?"

"Do we know you?" I asked.

"Oh, no," she laughed. "The video."

When we still had looks of confusion on our faces, she said, "The graduation video; that steaming hot kiss."

Jeff had been right. We just never thought to check.

The manager came over to our table.

"Would it be alright to take your picture? I'd like to put it on the wall. You know, a display of famous people who ate here."

"Oh, my God, we're really famous?" I asked, my face scrunched in that universal look of doubt.

"Look at the window," he said.

A small crowd had gathered and was looking at us. Some pointed.

If this was our fifteen minutes of fame, at least it had resulted from a lovely moment.