A Chance Encounter: Part 4 (Patreon)

The sprawling patio looks out over a wide fairway of the golf course that lay in behind the restaurant, far enough away we didn’t have to be worried about being hit by a stray ball but close enough to enjoy the view of the rolling manicured Dominican landscape.  Being at the corner edge of the tiled patio meant that we could ignore the hustle and bustle of the rest of the restaurant behind us.  The meal is exquisite, I have the lobster and he has the steak.  The wine is sumptuous and free flowing, white for me and red for him.  The atmosphere like out of a dream, swaying palms against the setting sun and warm ocean breezes constant reminders of the tropical paradise around us.  But it is the company that makes the evening truly special.

At first it is all about old times and good memories.  Oh how we laugh as we remember together all of the funny moments in our history.  Red faced and holding his gut I thought he might actually keel over with laughter as we recall the time I’d gotten my head stuck in the front porch railing and how he had to come rescue me by bending the wrought iron bars enough for me to escape.  The stories are a pleasant and much needed reminder of just how deeply our lives had touched during those years.  I quickly learn that some of the things I remembered being of monumental importance Mr. Eldridge barely recalled and vice versa, simply due to the different places we were in our lives back then.  But I also learn that while there were differences in emphasis the emotions felt were shared and real.  An honest care for each other underlaid everything else that happened.  Without breaking down this time I tell him again, as best as I could anyway, just what his presence meant to me at that time of my life and he confesses that he had always worried about me but had faith in me and was so relieved to see how well I had done for myself.  The heart to heart felt so good, like an unfinished bit of business finally put to rest.

The moments the server come around we shift gears in our conversation so as not to give away the ruse that got us this table.  We fall into our roles as daughter and dad and what started as awkward quickly becomes a private little joke between us with poor Ramona as our audience of one.  We begin to have fun with the fiction.  It is a bit of playful improve, me taking on the persona of a bratty spoiled rich kid with him as the stern stuffy father-knows-best type.

“Daaaad!”  I whine as I see Ramona coming to check on us.  “It’s my birthdaaaay.  It’s just a Jaguaaaar.  You said I could get a caaaar.”

Catching on quickly he bristles and harrumphs.  “Now, now Kitten.  That’s a lot of car for someone who never drives.”

“But I waaaant iiit!”

Ramona steps in and politely asks if we needed anything.  I cross my arms in a big pout as he assures her that we are doing fine.  The moment she had turned her back we are both biting our lips together so as not to laugh.

“Kitten?”  I cover my giggle with my hand.

“A Jag!”  He chuckles right back.  “What am I?  Made of money?”

We share a good laugh and continue catching up.  The time flies by as we eat and drink and chat the evening away.  The shock of seeing each other again gradually wears away.  Eventually stories of the old days progress to what we’d been doing with our lives since Jessie’s death.  He learns of my entrance in to college and the struggles and adventures I had faced.  He loves every minute of it, my stories reminding him of his own college days.  When the focus shifted back to him I learn of how their daughter’s passing away had left a gaping hole in the Eldridge’s marriage that couldn’t be mended.  I learn of the move, the divorce, and about how he had thrown himself completely into his work until a recent health scare had woken him up to the necessity that he actually had to live life while he still had some life in him.  “Without a woman or a family…what in the hell am I working so hard for?  What’s the point?”  He asks with an weary flatness in his voice.  I sympathize wholeheartedly.

At this point I sense a sullenness threatening to descend on him but thankfully Ramona shows up just in time.  Her visits were welcome little distractions of playfulness.  As she comes back to clear our dishes we go right back into our silly little charade.

“Daaaad.”  I snivel.  “I didn’t even wanna come here.  I wanted to go shoppinnnng.  I wanted to go to Italyyyy!  This is the worst birthday everrrr!”  I nearly snort when I catch our waitress roll her eyes and my impudent entitled griping.

“Now now my darling sweet pea.”  My ‘Dad’ says back.  “We can go there next year.”

“We better.”  I sulked.

Away went Ramona with our plate and dessert orders with us both tittering like naughty school kids in her wake.  As the sky darkens we had begin to relax and become ever more comfortable with one another, with no small aid from the wine mind you.  Our conversation moves from the past into the present and future.  We talk about the challenges we were currently facing and where we wanted to be in the years to come.  I tell him of my plans for after school and admit that beyond my career I felt lost as it related to the rest of my life.  He assures me that I had a lot of time and that my path would present itself to me and that I just had to keep an eye open for it.  Wisdom dispensed just like the old days.

“I’m so fucking proud of you kid.”  He tells me from his heart.  “Ya done good.”

I have to quickly blink the tears away so that my mascara wouldn’t run.  “That means a lot.”

In turn he really starts to open up to me like he never could have all those years ago.  He talks about the pain of not getting to see Jessica bloom into adulthood.  About how he’d never get to see her find her passion or get married or bring grandchildren into the world.  I could see how being a father had been everything to him.  He talks about the emptiness of the years that followed her death.  He talks about the loneliness that no amount of work or hobbies could assuage.  And he talks about how, with fifty now closer than forty, he could feel time running out for him to start again.  He worries it might already be too late.  He was still that wounded man I remembered at the funeral, but after so long he was only now ready to move on and try to heal.  Bit by bit I start to see Mr. Eldridge, Brian, not as the gleaming hero figure of my childhood but as the real strong yet fragile man he is today.

Reaching out I take his big meaty hand.  “You’ll be okay.”  I tell him.  “I know what kind of man you are Brian.  You’ll be okay.  You’ll see.”

He squeezes my hand back and holds it for a long silent time.  Finally he gives a slow appreciative nod, his gray-blue eyes pools of swirling emotions.  “Thanks Ella.”

Feeling like the mood needed lightening again I steer the conversation to the physical.  “I have to say you are looking great!  Seriously.”  Leaning across I poke his belly.  “What happened to the beer gut?”

This makes him laugh.  He pats his firm abs.  “You noticed.”

“Hell yeah I noticed.  You are looking fit as fuck.”  I titter tipsily.  “You’ll be pulling in the ladies in no time looking like that.  Daaaamn.”

He continues to laugh.  “And what about you?”  He says back.  “You’ve…well…you’ve…errr…”

“Filled out?”

“Yes!”

I giggle with a saucy little jiggle of my big boobs.  I catch him peek, I catch him blush, and I shoot him a wink.  “I’m a late bloomer.  Took awhile for things get going but once they did…bazongas baby!”  I give him another little shake.

“Bazongas?”  He leans back holding his stomach and roars with laughter.

One final time Ramona walks up to the table, the bill in her hand.  Seeing the moment of honest human connection, so at odds with the over the top roles we had been playing at through the meal, she gives us each a stern look.

“We’re not really father and daughter.”  Brian confesses.

“Yeah.”  She says sternly.  “I figured that out Senor.”

“And it’s not really my birthday.”  I add, my words a wee bit slurred.

“You don’t see a cake, do you?”  Ramona quips.

“She was on to us!”  I say with a titter.

“You won’t tell on us, will you?”  Brian asks with a puckish smirk.

She winks and says back.  “Depends on the tip Senor…Smith.”  All three of us laugh together.

The bill is paid by Brian, along with a generous gratuity, and soon after we are leaving back out the front door arm in arm.  It was the strangest evening.  In the course of a meal everything had changed.  We had walked in as estranged family and were walking out as close friends.

We walk back along the tree lined streets and well lit parks in silence.  Each of us still absorbing on everything shared back on that patio.  The night is warm, the pale moon bright, and the thumping party music from my raucous resort could just be made out in the distance.  Beside the big hibiscus we pause.  I look up at him, sensing he wanted to say something.

All at once he pulls me into his arms and press his lips into mine for a long hard kiss.  “Mmm!”  I stiffen up in surprise…before melting in his strong embrace.  “Mmmmm.”  My fingers dig into his sides as I press my body back into his.

As quickly as it had begun suddenly he pushes away.  “Fuck…I’m sorry Ella.”  He shakes his head.  “I shouldn’t have…I shouldn’t…I…”  He looks at me.  I look at him.  Our hungry eyes lock once more and the next thing I knew I was being pulled in for another hard yearning kiss.

Part 5