The Boyfriend Bet (LDS Fiction) (9 page)

Monday morning, I was sitting in class, halfheartedly listening to the professor and at the same time wondering what I should do about Patrick. I still hadn't heard anything from him since Saturday night, and I decided that I'd reach out to him this afternoon if I hadn't heard from him by four o'clock.

I hated setting deadlines for myself like that, because it made me feel like I was playing into the dating game even more. But I knew that I needed to see him three times this week in order to win the bet, so every day counted. On top of that, I found that I really missed talking to him.

Around 1:30, I was at home eating a tuna sandwich for lunch, and my phone started ringing. I dropped the sandwich and ran into the next room to dig for my phone in my backpack. By the time I grabbed the cell phone out of the bottom of the bag, it had stopped ringing.

My fingers fumbled to look at the call log, and I saw that it was Patrick who had called. I immediately pushed the callback button and heard his beautiful voice on the other side of the line.

"Are you ignoring me now?" I could hear a playful tone in his voice.

"Not intentionally... but the forces were working against me to prevent me from answering your phone call. My phone got lost in the bottom of my backpack."

"How are you doing? It's good to hear your voice."

"I'm great, just finishing up lunch right now." I was glad that he couldn't see through the phone line to see that I was blushing.

"Me too, in fact, I only have a few minutes left on my lunch break. But I wanted to talk to you, do you have plans for dinner tonight?"

Score! It sounded like the number three was going to happen tonight. "Nope, no plans for dinner yet. I've got some homework to do, but other than that my evening is open."

"Perfect, just what I was hoping to hear. How about I pick you up at six-thirty?"

"I'll plan on it. Six-thirty sounds good, see you tonight."

"See you. Have a nice rest of the afternoon."

"You too. Bye. "

*****

Patrick knocked on my door at exactly 6:30 pm. I hurried down the stairs to open the door, excited to see him.

"You'll probably want to bring a jacket," he suggested. "We're going to be outside for a little while. It's not freezing yet, but it is starting to get colder at night."

"Thanks for the heads up." I grabbed a jacket out of the coat closet next to the front door, and I was grateful that I had chosen to wear a sweater and jeans that night.

We walked outside and down the sidewalk toward his car. He opened the passenger side door to let me in, and I was curious about where we were going since he hadn't mentioned anything yet.

He walked around the car and climbed in the driver's side, and as he started the engine he turned to me. "I thought a picnic in the park might be fun. We need to take advantage of this good weather before it starts snowing."

"Great idea," I agreed. "I'm dreading the cold weather; we need to soak up every moment of good weather while we have it."

We talked for a few minutes as he drove to the park just down the street from my apartment. After he parked the car, he got out to open the door for me. I was anticipating that we would pull a few things out of the trunk. But instead of walking around the back of the car, he simply started walking toward the main grassy area of the park.

I was curious. "Shouldn’t we bring some sandwiches or something if we’re going to have a picnic?" I grabbed his elbow teasingly, "Usually people bring food to a picnic."

"Oh, don't you worry, my dear," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

We walked around a grove of trees, and to my surprise, there was a picnic dinner set up on the other side of the trees: a blanket had been laid down, candles were lit, and I could see several platters filled with food.

"I hope you like salmon; I figured it was a safe bet."

"Salmon sounds great, how did you set this all up and pick me up at the same time?" I could see that the food was still steaming hot, and the candles hadn't been burning for long.

"Well, I might've had a little bit of help." He winked at me.

I looked around but didn't see anyone else there. I guessed that one of his roommates must've helped him set up the picnic while Patrick was picking me up at my apartment.

We sat down on the blanket and Patrick smiled with that cute dimple of his. "I know this isn't the traditional dinner date that you were expecting, but I thought it might be nice to have something quiet. We don't have to fight the hustle and bustle of the restaurant."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," I smiled back.

We enjoyed dinner and talked about school, work, and career. I told him about the MBA program that I was attending at USU, and how I enjoyed the classes but wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I was finished with school.

He told me about how he was going through the same thing. He tried to start into a career and didn't like what he was doing, so he decided to go back to school. His decision to go back to school was what brought him to Logan, as he’d heard that there was a good business program at Utah State.

It seemed that our thoughts, ideas, and feelings were so similar in every aspect of our lives. We shared similar family backgrounds, we both grew up in a good Christian home with a big family. We had the same views on religion, education, lifestyle, and values.  We shared the same taste in music and seemed to like all the same types of food.

Just as it was starting to get colder, Patrick pulled out one more surprise that I wasn’t expecting. He stood up from the blanket, walked over to a bush nearby, and pulled out his guitar case.

"I hope you don't mind if I serenade you, I think we have a few more minutes before the candles go out."

"Has a girl ever turned down a guy's offer to serenade her? Go ahead. I would love it."

He started to strum his guitar, and I almost immediately recognized the song that he was playing: Eric Clapton’s "Wonderful Tonight".

I loved every moment of it: sitting there on the blanket, looking at the sky as the stars were starting to come out, and listening to the soft strumming of the guitar and his silky smooth voice. It was perfect.

I had never had a guy serenade me with music before, and I really liked the feeling of having a guy dote on me in such a unique way. He really made me feel special and as if the song was written just for me.

He finished up the song and we sat in silence for just a minute, not wanting to let go of the moment.

"A little cheesy, I know. But I couldn't help but think of you when I heard the lyrics of this song; especially the line about brushing her long blonde hair, and the line about you looking wonderful tonight."

I blushed, "You sure know how to sweet talk the women! Thank you. It was a wonderful evening."

He started to lean forward a little bit, and I wondered if he was going to kiss me. He got closer, but then stopped and we both realized at the same time that the guitar was sitting between us.

Instead of moving the guitar out of the way to get close enough for the kiss, he drew back and standing up, walked back over to the guitar case to put the guitar away.

"I guess we better get this cleaned up before it gets too dark to see our way back to the car." He started picking up the leftovers and putting them in a bag that was sitting next to the blanket.

I helped him gather everything up, we folded the blanket, and he grabbed his guitar case. Everything was loaded into the back of his car and we started driving back to my place.

"I know that you're busy with school, but it would be great if I could see you again this week. Are you available Wednesday night? My roommate is organizing a group date to go play ultimate Frisbee on campus."

"I'll put it on my calendar, but fair warning: I'm not very accurate with my Frisbee throw," I said jokingly. I actually was horrible; not only did I have trouble getting a Frisbee to fly level, but my targeting skills were almost non-existent. Oh well, at least I warned him.

"I'm sure you'll do great, there are a few people coming who have never played before, and I don't know if we’ll even keep score. We'll just be playing for fun."

"Oh good, I don't know if you’ll want me on your team if we're keeping score!"

I was excited about the fact that we had date number four scheduled, because that meant that I needed to get just one more date on the calendar before the end of the week.

"Tell me if this is too forward, but I'd also like to reserve your Friday night as well. I bought tickets to go see the Utah Symphony in
S
alt
L
ake
City
, and the concert is on Friday night. It would be my honor, if you'd like to go with me, but if you're busy, I can take one of my roommates. Although going to the Symphony with another dude definitely won't be as fun as it would be to take you."

Inside my head I was cheering for myself, date number five was on the calendar as well! I was nearing the finish line! I couldn't wait to get home and tell Kendra.

"I love the fact that you enjoy classical music, and I would be delighted to go to the symphony with you on Friday. I haven’t been in years. I'm done with classes by three-thirty that afternoon, and I am available anytime after that."

He pulled up in front of my house and walked me to the door. Again, I wondered if he was going to lean in for a kiss, but he took me by the hand and gave it a little squeeze, "Have a great night, Shara. I’ll see you on Wednesday."

"Thanks Patrick, take care. See you later."

I was practically skipping as I walked into the bedroom that Kendra and I shared. She was sitting on her bed reading a textbook, studying for the test that we had later in the week.

She looked up and saw the smile on my face, and immediately set the textbook down. "Well, you look like you have some exciting news!"

"I certainly do. Date number four AND date number five are both on the calendar for later this week. And you doubted that I could do it." I shook my finger at her the way a mother would scold a child.

"No, no, no... don't count your chickens before they hatch. Scheduling a date and going on a date are two different things. You haven't won this bet until both of those dates are completed."

I grinned, "You're right. Don't worry. I'm planning to go on both of them. And I'm planning to enjoy the new phone that you're going to buy me."

"We'll see about that, a lot can happen in a few days!"

"You're right, a lot can happen in a few days. I feel pretty good about things though, Patrick's really a great guy. In fact, my commitment issues are really starting to talk to me, because I like him more and more every time we hang out."

"See," Kendra said teasingly. "Those commitment issues are bound and determined to find something wrong with him. Tell them to be quiet until you've finished that last date. Then anything goes after that point, you can choose to high tail it out of there if you want to."

She had a good point...or did she? Could I really high tail it out of there with suffering some collateral damage myself? I was really starting to like Patrick and the thought of continuing to see him only brought feelings of joy, not fear. I had a feeling I was in trouble, and I knew that the trouble was of my own making.

For the next two days, I tried hard to focus on my schoolwork and not to think about Patrick too much. I didn't want to give myself the opportunity to come up with a reason why I shouldn't follow through with the bet. So I kept myself busy: class, studying, homework, and hanging out with my roommates during my free time.

The semester was getting busier, and I was grateful that I’d made the decision to not work this semester. Last summer, I decided to work two jobs in order to save up enough money for my living expenses for the semester. Between my savings and my scholarship, I was able to live the college lifestyle without going into debt. And I was able to pay all of my bills without having to rely on my parents to help out. They had been very helpful when I was earning my bachelor’s, but I was determined to earn my MBA on my own.

I was definitely looking forward to graduation day so that I could start working a full-time job. It'd be nice to have a little more money in my pocket again. The life of a college student is meager and full of compromise.  I looked forward to the day when I could go shopping and not have to only buy off the clearance racks. A girl needs to have some motivation, and this was a great one for me.

*****

Patrick picked me up late Wednesday afternoon, and we met up with a group of 10 other people for the ultimate Frisbee game. I had watched ultimate Frisbee before and even tried to play it a few times, but I wasn't very coordinated when it came to catching and throwing the Frisbee.

I was relieved to see that there were a few other people who were new to the game also. Before we started playing, they went through the rules of the game and we split up into two teams.

I really enjoyed playing, and I especially enjoyed seeing Patrick in action. Because of his trim, strong physique, I had made the assumption that he was good at sports. And he proved me right as we started into the game. It was awesome to see how he could catch the Frisbee with one hand, and he was almost always on target with his throw. My skills were not so noteworthy and I was glad to see several other people with similar abilities, or lack thereof.

After the game was done, we said goodbye to the other people and started walking back to the car so that Patrick could take me home. We started talking a little bit more about relationships again, and Patrick seemed to get a little uneasy.

There must be something going on that I didn’t know about, I thought to myself. I had watched him change moods quickly like this before, and I was starting to observe that it was usually related to a conversation about relationships or something that would move our relationship forward.

I decided that I wouldn't push him on it, especially because I didn't want to hurt him even more if I decided to not date him after the two weeks were over.

As he got in the car, he seemed to want to talk about something though, and he started to open up about what was on his mind.

"Shara, the more we hang out, the more I see how great we are together. To be honest, I really like you a lot. And it scares me to death to say that out loud."

"We've got a good thing going on, don't we? I agree; relationships can be scary."

"Well," he hesitated. "Um, there's something I should probably tell you..."

My heart dropped, I could feel the tension in the air, and it seemed like he was going to tell me some bad news.

"I've... you see... um... I've actually been married before. It didn't end all that great, which is why I'm so nervous about getting back into the dating game again. In fact, when I moved here to Logan, I vowed that I wasn't going to date anyone for at least a year, because I needed time to sort things out in my mind."

I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. This had not been one of the scenarios Kendra and I had discussed as a reason for his apparent mood swings. I tried to keep my expression neutral and just listened as he continued.

"But then I met you, and I couldn't deny the attraction. You're unique, you're beautiful, and you're smart; I love spending time with you. But it's just scary. I'm having a hard time explaining how I really feel because I feel so torn about everything. I want to spend more time with you, but I'm scared to put myself in a position where I could get hurt again."

"Wow. It sounds like you've really been through a lot." I paused for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. "I went through a pretty tough breakup too, but we were just engaged, not married. Do you mind me asking what happened? I don’t want to pry if you’re not ready to talk about it."

"It's okay for you to ask, I figured that we would need to have this conversation at one point or another anyway. Her name is Jocelyn and I met her soon after I got home from a church mission.

"I came home and got right into school and started working on my undergraduate degree. I wanted to study business, but I had to get my prerequisites done first. I met her in my math class the second semester in school. We met right at the beginning of the semester; it was the middle of January.

"We quickly fell in love and the relationship moved fast. In fact, it moved so fast that we decided to get married that summer before school started in the fall. It was the epitome of a shotgun wedding, and we thought we were madly in love. We were so immature.

"Reality hit us pretty hard when school started in the fall. We were dealing with what most young couples face: work, school, and financial struggles. We were both full-time students by day, and working in the evenings. The stress of our lifestyle quickly caught up to us, and we started fighting a lot.

"We both had three years of school left before graduation, and halfway through the semester, she decided to quit because she felt like it would be better for her to work full-time so that I could finish my degree.

"I later found out that she wasn't really interested in school in the first place, and that she was just going through the motions because that's what she thought she was supposed to do.

"So, I kept focusing on school and doing the best that I could to nurture our relationship, and she started working full-time. Things started to get a little better for us, mainly because she didn't have the stress of trying to get her homework done every night.

"She talked about the fact that she wanted to get pregnant, but I felt like it would be better to wait for a few years since I still had so much school ahead of me. With the class load I was carrying, I couldn’t work any more hours than I already had scheduled and I didn’t want to take out a bunch of student loans that would be hanging over our heads upon graduation.

"She told me that she agreed with me, but deep down inside, she really wanted a baby. I thought I was a pretty good listener and that we were communicating well, but I missed how lonely and depressed she had become after quitting school.

"So she decided to stop taking her birth control without telling me. Well, I'm sure you can guess what happened: we got pregnant.

"She was so excited for the baby, and after the initial shock wore off, I was as well, even though it made me a lot more stressed. The baby was born just as I was starting my last year of school. He was perfect.

"We named him Tyson, and I had no idea how much love and joy my son would bring into my life. Having him around helped us to strengthen our relationship and renew our friendship again.

"All of a sudden we had this tiny little human who needed us for everything. It brought our focus to something other than ourselves and each other’s failures.  Our church life seemed to be strengthened as well.

"I finished my last year of school, graduated, and we were trying to decide what we wanted to do with our lives. She had no interest in getting her college degree. Both of us had a dream of owning our own business, and we decided that it was the right time to give it a shot if we were going to do it.

"So, we took out a business loan and opened a restaurant. It was a diner. We served breakfast throughout the day, and other classic all-American dishes. It was exciting in the beginning and stressful at the same time, but we were very hopeful that we could make it work.

"It was a lot more work than what we anticipated, and the cash flow wasn't what we were hoping for. I knew that I needed to support my little family, so I made the decision to work more shifts in the restaurant myself, so that I wouldn't have to pay employees.

"Jocelyn was supportive in the beginning, but she had a hard time with me being away from home so much. I put in long hours at that restaurant, some days I opened it at six o'clock in the morning and I wouldn't leave until after closing, around ten at night. She spent her days caring for Tyson and taking care of our home.  I tried to make sure that I was home for at least lunch or dinner every day, and I did the best I could to take time off so that we could have family activities together.

"The diner was closed on Sunday, so that was our family day. We went to church together and spent time with just us. But it wasn't enough to nurture our relationship the way that it needed to be.

"Jocelyn was telling me that she was unsatisfied with our relationship because she felt like I was never around, and it was hard because she was dealing with depression and anxiety attacks at the same time. I didn’t realize that she had been dealing with a form of post-partum depression for months.  I knew that she was unhappy a lot, but I was gone so much I figured it was because of my work schedule.  I knew that my family was way more important than the business, so I started trying to take more time off so that we could spend more time together.

"We worked on the business for two years, and had our ups and downs during those years. Most of the time, I was very hopeful that we were going to get it figured out, but she was only looking at what we didn't have. I was a glass half-full type of guy, and she was a glass half-empty type of girl.

"One day, I was at work, and we planned to make a family trip to the swimming pool that afternoon. Tyson was three years old; he was just getting big enough where we could really start to play with him... and he loved the swimming pool.

"I was supposed to be home in time for us to leave by one o'clock that afternoon. The day was going well at the restaurant, until I found out that my lunchtime shift manager was sick and wasn't going to show up. I knew that I couldn't back out of my plans, so I talked to Jocelyn to see if we could push the swimming pool activity back to three o'clock. She was a little irritated that I was going to be late, but she agreed and said that three o'clock would be fine.

"I worked through the lunch rush, and the restaurant was quite busy that day. Around two o'clock, my cell phone started ringing; it was Jocelyn. I was busy at the moment, so I planned to call her back a few minutes later. But the cell phone kept ringing, and after she called back the third time in a row, I knew that I'd better pick up the phone.

"When I picked up the phone I could hear Jocelyn sobbing on the other end, I could barely make out what she was saying. She was telling me something about an accident that had happened, and that Tyson was being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

"My heart stopped, I didn't know what to do. I told her that I'd meet her at the hospital, and I immediately dropped everything and rushed over there as fast as I could."

I reached over and grabbed Patrick’s hand. I tried to hold back the tears that were forming. My heart broke to know that he had gone through such a horrible experience. Even as he tried to be strong while telling me his story, I could see the emotion in his eyes and could tell that he had forever been changed by these events. I said a silent prayer that God would continue to give him strength and comfort.

"But it was too late. There was no saving Tyson; too much damage had occurred. Jocelyn told me that she'd been working on a project inside the house, and without her knowing, Tyson had sneaked out the front door and gone outside. He was riding his tricycle and not paying attention to where he was going. Apparently the tricycle went rolling out of the driveway, just as a car was passing by. The driver tried to swerve to miss him, but both Tyson and the tricycle were run over.

"I was devastated. My life had come crashing down on me. The doctors told us that there was nothing they could have done, that he had severe head injuries and internal bleeding.

"The next little while was a blur; I don't remember much that happened over the next few weeks. I did the best that I could to keep up with the restaurant, but spent a lot of time at home with Jocelyn as we mourned our loss.

"Tyson's death caused Jocelyn to go into even deeper depression, and I did everything I could to help her. We went to different specialists, and tried different depression medications, but nothing worked."

He stopped for a few moments while he collected his thoughts. I continued to hold his hand and tried to give him some of my strength by squeezing his hand.

"The hardest thing about the situation was the fact that Jocelyn blamed me for Tyson's death. She told me that if I wouldn't have been late for our pool outing, then we wouldn't have even been home at the time of the accident, so he wouldn't have been hit by that car."

He looked at our hands and then met my eyes.

"Logically, I knew in my mind that it was just an accident, but there were so many ways that the story could be spun to blame responsibility. I could be held responsible because I had changed the plans last minute. Jocelyn could be held responsible because she didn't hear Tyson sneaking out of the house. The driver of the car could've been held responsible because they were the ones who hit him...