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“What did you order?”
“The same thing we had the last time we were here.”
The waitress brings the food – fried shrimp, coconut shrimp and fries.
Essex dives in right away, then looks up at me and says, “Eat up, Tessie.” He taps his watch saying, “You’re on the clock.”
Frowning curiously, I ask, “Why do you call me that?”
He shrugs his large shoulders, then tosses some fried shrimp into his mouth.
“No, don’t shrug it off. Answer my question.”
“Why?”
“Because…that’s a special nickname for me. Someone from my past called me that, and he was the only one toevercall me that.”
“Someone from your past?”
“Yes.”
“Where is this someone now?”
“I don’t know. I lost contact with him.”
“Interesting.” He tosses a shrimp into his mouth.
“Answer my question, Essex.”
“Look at you being all ballsy to your boss.” He wipes his mouth and asks, “This guy—he meant something to you.”
“Yes.”
“So, why aren’t you with him? Was the feeling not mutual?”
“Gosh, you can be such a jerk. You know that?”
“Yes, I’m aware, but in this particular instance, I’m not being a jerk. I’m pressing you about a topic you’re shying away from. If you don’t want to talk about it, just say that.”
Okay, so maybe he has a point. That doggone Stewart Dennis was special to me. I say, “I’m sorry. You’re right. I am shying away from it because it has always bothered me that I loved this person so much, yet never had the guts to tell him how I felt. I just assumed he knew. Anyway, we were friends in high school and we lost touch after graduation.”
“Why did you lose touch?”
“We were accepted at different colleges.”
“I see.” After a noticeable pause, he says, “There’s an invention called a cell phone that may have helped.”
I smile, but the sadness that creeps over me consumes me more than Essex’s dry humor. “You’re right, and that would’ve been helpful had I not lost my phone and all my contacts a week after arriving on campus. And then I was inundated with work and tests, I joined the sorority my mom was dying for me to join and just settled into college life. I figured he was doing the same.”
“That’s understandable, but you could’ve still stayed in touch with him and made it work if he was your person. Was he your person?”
“I guess I’ll never know.” I blow a breath and fan my misty eyes, ready to move on to the next topic.
He says, “Maybe you had to get rid of him to see a bigger picture for yourself—to make room for someone better.”
I quirk up a brow. “Someone better?”
“That’s what I said.”
