Thursday, October 8, 2020

TWO LONELY HEARTS

            My mouth fell open. I jerked off my sunglasses for a better look at the man standing over me. I lounged in my beach chair in the sand, very close to the blue water's of Mystic Lake. I tilted the umbrella shielding me from the sun for an even better look at the man. 

"Katy?" he said. "It's me. Charley Hayes!"

"Oh. My. God! Charley!"

The entire beach scene seemed to disappear for a second—bright sun, hot sand, blue lake, and laughing families enjoying a splendid afternoon.

Charley smiled. He had turned gray around the temples, and his sandy hair had thinned a bit, but he was still tall, muscular, and quite handsome. "How on earth did you recognize me?" I said.

"That huge green umbrella caught my eye. I sort of peeked under—you haven't changed. Is that same umbrella, after all these years?"

"Yes! The very same," I said. Whipping off my sunglasses, I jumped up to shake his hand. He wore a Hawaiian shirt and long white swimming trunks. I'd dressed for the beach in a new, red, two-piece bathing suit.

Twenty years ago, my husband and I, along with several other families from differing states rented, a cabin every summer on Mystic Lake. Charlie and his wife were one of the few who owned a cabin. We all swam and laughed together, our kids included. We cooked out and often enjoyed midnight bonfires on the beach. We sang and made up ghost stories.

But as our three kids grew up—my husband Ted's and mine—we didn't have time for summer vacations on Mystic Lake any longer. Our kids became involved in summer sports like baseball, softball, and soccer.

"How long's it been?" Charley said.

"Twenty-five summers since Ted and I were here," I said. "It's why I decided to visit again for a week. An anniversary, of sorts. We always had so much fun, and I was looking for something to do."

Charley raked a hand through his hair. I sensed he wanted to ask about Ted but was perhaps afraid of my answer since I was alone. I saved him from asking: "Ted died three years ago," I said softly. "Heart attack."

Charley closed his eyes a second. "I'm...so sorry. Such a great guy." Then Charley smiled again. "What a voice he had when we sang around those bonfires at night."

"The way you plunked that ukulele—anybody could sing. "How's Martha?"

The smiled dropped off Charley's face in an instant. His feet shuffled in the sand. 

Oh Lord. I should have thought before asking. "I'm sorry," I said quickly. "Stupid me."

He bit his bottom lip and then said, "Um...she died ten years ago. Cancer. I guess we're both in the same boat," he added.

I wondered if he felt as lonely as I did. Two Lonely Hearts. Maybe he didn't, since his wife had passed away a long time ago. Maybe he had a lady friend. Probably—such a handsome man in his fifties.

"Mind if I sit with you a bit?" he asked.

"Yes, please! Please do."

Charley told me his son Ben bought the cabin from him. Every summer, Ben and his wife Angie and their two young kids spent as much time here as they could. Charlie came along sometimes. He was taking his afternoon stroll along the beach when he spotted me. He said he'd dated a bit but nothing seemed to click, so he'd given up. "Life's been pretty lonely," he concluded.

Lonely or not, I hadn't thought about dating—not for a second.

Then Charley sighed, pursed his lips, and looked me squarely in the eyes. He jolted me with a simple question: "Would you like to do something tonight, Katy? Go into town, have dinner?"

My eyebrows must have jumped off my face with surprise, and I'm sure I appeared tongue-tied. I mean, I never expected to be asked on a date, not in a million years. "I—I'm..." Then I thought if Charley Hayes had the courage to ask me for a date, I had the courage to treat him to a meal. My heart pounding, I managed: "How about if I make something for us at my cabin? Barbecued chicken, maybe? And a salad?"

"Excellent!" he said, his blue eyes lighting up. "I'll make a pot of beans, and I'll bring some wood for a fire later. My ukulele is stuffed somewhere in a closet back at the cabin."

I tried to quiet my pounding heart. "Perfect," I said, as I pictured two lonely hearts sitting together around a fire under bright stars and a big moon, becoming better acquainted, perhaps shedding their loneliness.

The End

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