It really didn't take me as long as I thought it would to get over Anthony. For the first month or so, I did call his phone anonymously (in case someone told him who was calling) just to hear his voice on his voicemail, and drove by his place a few times to see if there were any cars there that I didn't recognize (which would probably signify a new girl), but that grew old fast. I stopped caring sooner than I thought I would. I guess because it suddenly hit me that if he could choose drugs over me without even a fight to keep me and what we had, then why should I give a crap about him?
After my fling with Job, I somehow developed a new attitude. I determined that I needed to get my head on straight, get my life back on track, and make something happen for myself. That's when I met "James".
Okay, before you call me "sac-religious" for what I'm about to explain, keep in mind that I grew up with a father as a preacher, and I consider him a good man, and an example of what I want in a mate. No, I don't want to marry my father, but he treats all 4 of his daughters like princess' without overly spoiling us, he was a wonderful husband to my mother (their divorce was all her fault..she admitted it), and he's an awesome husband to my step-mom. So, naturally, a man that possesses (no pun intended) the characteristics and qualities of what I saw growing up will be attractive to me.
At the time, I was a manager at a well-known fast food restaurant, and James just so happened to come through my drive-thru one night. I'm pretty friendly by nature, and when I took his order at the board, my tone reflected that. But when he pulled around to the first window after placing his order, my mouth dropped wide open, and I went into overly-friendly mode. Job had nothing on him. Even with him sitting in his SUV, I noticed how devastatingly gorgeous this man was. Blond, clean-cut, piercing baby blue eyes, and a smile that lit up the night sky. I knew there was something different about him, but I couldn't place my finger on just what it was. One of the first things I did when he handed me the money was look at his ring finger...nope, no ring, and no ring tan-line. Either he's not married, or just doesn't believe in wearing jewelry. But since I didn't see evidence of committal, and there was no woman in the vehicle with him, that gave me the clearance to gawk (I'm a firm believer that men in relationships..no matter what the nature..are OFF limits). After he paid and went to the second window to get his order, I ran up there to be the one to give him his food. When he drove off, me and my closest girl friend, "Ann", immediately began talking about how hot he was. Ann was only 16 at the time, but she was no stranger to living a wild life, she had a 3 year old son. She was underage, and she was my employee (unprofessional, I know, but to this day we're still extremely close), but we still liked to ogle the hotties that would come through. After this stranger left, and we talked about him for a little while, I put the thought out of my head, thinking he was just another sexy customer to grace my restaurant.
About a week later, this stranger came back to my restaurant. This time I was at the front counter, and he came inside...alone. I remembered him immediately, put on my biggest smile, and gave him my warmest "restaurant" greeting. In exchange, he flashed that debonair smile at me. I thought my knees would give out right then and there. He placed his order, got his food, ate it, and after he threw out his trash, he came back to the counter. I had walked back to the office by that time, but kept an eye on him through the office window. The girl at the register came to the office and told me that he asked for the manager on duty. I was the only one there, and wondered what could be wrong. So, I checked my appearance in the office mirror (hey, I had to make sure there weren't any chicken nugget pieces stuck in my teeth), and went to see what he needed. There was that smile again. That breath-taking smile. I asked him how I could help him, was everything ok. He assured me that all was fine and his food was delicious, but he'd never seen me before and was wondering where I was from. I told him that I had just moved to Oklahoma about 4 months prior, and was yet getting to know the town. He introduced himself, and wanted to know if I attended church. I told him a bit about my background, my father being a pastor, but I hadn't found a church yet. Then he said something that nearly knocked my socks off. He told me that he was the pastor of a nearby church (THAT'S what the difference was. I knew it was something). I thought, there's no way a man this young and attractive could be a preacher and single. So, he did what any other preacher would do, he invited me to church. And I did what any other single woman that was invited to church by an attractive man would do, I went that next Sunday.
Granted, I still had no idea if this man had a girlfriend or a fiance or anything, but I wanted to, was willing to, and was going to find out everything I could about this man. I had determined already that I needed to get my life together again, and this could be the very reason why. It took that one Sunday for me to find out everything I needed to know about James. He indeed was single (divorced with 2 small children), no fiance or girlfriend, but I also found out quickly that there was a younger girl in the church that was in pursuit of him. We'll call her "Jezebel". Let the competition begin. I looked at it from this perspective:
* he and I are the same age (he's 3 months older than me)
* she's 8 years younger
* I was groomed in church and know how a preacher's mate is to be and be perceived
* she was the town hoar (her reputation preceded her through some of the guys at my job)
* he and I had a very similar christian upbringing
* she was clueless, just there to chase him (she joined his church 2 years prior, after meeting him at another church she attended)
* I know how to "act like a lady" and got along with everyone
* again, she was clueless, and had a stank attitude
Needless to say, for the entire time I attended the church, there was some thick tension between her and me. I'm sure it was obvious to those in the church that we mutually dealt with on a regular basis. We tolerated each other, and we were cordial with each other, partially because we sang in the choir together, and partially because we tried hard not to make it obvious that we both silently agreed to disagree over who would get him. Jezebel wasn't an ugly girl, and for lack of better description, she was fairly attractive...emphasis on fairly. She had long legs, was slender, had long pretty brown hair, but her complexion screamed for Oxy, and you could tell because she wore her face powder caked-on like it was applied with a garden trowel. Her only attribute that I considered topping me was the fact that she was slimmer than I was at the time. This is what set in motion my gym days and working-out.
Things went on like this between Jezebel and I for the better part of 9 months. I think James even realized the friction between her and me, but he never let on about it, and treated me like a "very" close friend. I started to get a little weary after a while, though. James' house was 2 blocks from my apartment, and I would pass by on my way home from work sometimes (okay, really, it was just a bit of a detour), and see Jezebel's car there almost every time I did. I figured there was more to them than what was being publicized. In fact, I was sure that there was.
I went on living my life, went out with guys I'd meet on occasion, but even though my gut feeling knew things wouldn't turn out between James and I the way I'd want them to, I still held on to a small piece of hope that maybe my gut could be wrong. I'll just say, in all my life, my gut hadn't been wrong up through that point.
Well, briefing, James' church secretary and I had become quite close rather quickly when I joined the church, and our birthdays are a day a part (she's 16 years older than me, though). She and I decided for the following year that we'd treat ourselves to a cruise together as birthday presents. I was offered a better job with another company during that time, and had to relocate shortly after we began planning. So, I left MacTown, moved to "BoreTown", and found out through the secretary that James and Jezebel married about a year after I left.
So much for my wishful thinking....Can't say the "better" woman won, but, everything is as it should be.
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