Migraine from Hell

When he sent her the name of the restaurant, Bailey gasped, because she knew it was a very pricey place.

"Leif, that's insanely expensive! I don't need that kind of thing to be happy. Really. It's an incredible offer, but it isn't necessary, okay?"

He wasn't hurt or offended by her reply, because he saw it as an opportunity.

"All right. So...will you tell me what would make you happy?"

Bailey smiled when she read his reply.

"Well, I was happy when you told me you were feeling better, but I don't think that's what you meant. In fact, I'm sure you meant in the short-term, and I'll tell you that in a minute. But while I'm sharing...the honest answer to your question is someone who'll love me for me and not expect me to be to be perfect. My dad calls people who don't quit 'stickers'. So if I could find someone like that who'll stick—through thick and thin—that would make me very happy."

Bailey knew she was offering too much information, and yet she somehow felt like Leif wouldn't see it that way. She had the impression he preferred being honest and direct to beating around the bush and playing guessing games, so she sent the text.

"Wow. You just made me very happy," he wrote back. "I feel the same way about your long-term need when it comes to happiness, and I appreciate you sharing it with me. As to the short-term, I'd also like to hear that, too."

In spite of the unlikelihood of anything serious coming of this, Bailey's heart sang for the first time in years when she read Leif's words.

"Do you like to bowl?" she replied with a few smiley emojis.

Leif hadn't bowled since returning home, and he wasn't sure his leg would bend that far without pain, but suddenly the idea of going bowling seemed like a lot more fun than spending $200 on one dinner. Especially if spending $20 would make Bailey just as happy.

"I do," he texted back. "So maybe a more modest dinner before or after we find an alley?"

"Yes! I'd love that!" she wrote back.

"I think I like you even more than I did before."

"I uh, I kinda like you, too, Leif," Bailey typed, her heart beating fast as she smiled again.

"Then it's a date," came his response.

"A date, huh? Okay. A date it is. Just let me know when you'll be stopping by to pick me up, okay?"

"I will," Leif promised as he felt a kind of old familiar stirring he hadn't experienced in much too long.

There was a bowling alley in on Edsall Road in Alexandria called Bowl America Shirley. Leif had no idea what the Shirley part meant, and it was between where he and Bailey lived, so that seemed like the most logical place to go.

Once he'd decided on the where, he called the alley to make sure the time he was thinking about was for open bowling. As it turned out, every lane was taken for league play starting at 6pm and didn't open back up for open bowling until 10 o'clock.

So when he texted Bailey as to the 'when', he let asked her if she'd mind bowling first and eating later. She told him that was actually her preference, and that bowling at four and dinner closer to six was perfect. She also let him know again that -7856she was looking forward to it and reiterated there was no need to go anywhere too fancy.

Leif told her he was looking forward to seeing her, too, and promised not to overdo it. Then once he put down his phone, he stood up and pretended he was throwing a bowling ball. The good news, such as it was, was that it was his right leg that had been shredded. That meant he could indeed bend his left leg low enough to release the ball after a four-step approach. His right leg hurt a little from the modest amount of bending it had to do, but it wasn't too severe, and after a couple more practice runs, he thought he could handle it.

The rest of the work week flew by, and as he got ready to go pick up Bailey, Leif was glad the weather was cool enough to justify wearing jeans. He knew that even if it was over 100 degrees, there was no chance he'd wear shorts, so it was nice that he could wear something longer without drawing attention to it. A decent three-button Henley shirt that was a dark green seemed good enough, and with that, he was ready to go.

"Lexi? You ready to go bowling?" he asked his best friend.

The dog's tail wagged and he got a quiet 'woof' in response.

Leif knew where she lived but hadn't yet been to Bailey's home, so he had no idea what to expect. Even so, he was more than a little surprised to learn it was a very nice house with a beautifully manicured lawn. That reminded him he had no idea what she did for a living, but it made him wonder if she was possibly well off due to a divorce settlement or if she was perhaps a famous author or something along those lines. He didn't care one way or the other, but there was a lot of money in this very nice home with the three-car garage.

The next surprise came when she opened the door. Leif hadn't given any thought to what she might be wearing herself, so when he saw her, he did a double take.

"Wow. You look..."

"Is this okay?" she asked as she let him in before bending down to pet Lexi.

"What? Yes. It's fine. It's...more than fine. I was just trying to find the right word."

He looked at her again and 'cute' came to mind just before 'super cute' seemed even better. Bailey's blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail revealing an even prettier face than he'd remembered. The golden-colored hair looked amazing against the pink knit top she was wearing which went perfectly well with the short black skirt and the pink socks and white tennis shoes.

Leif smiled then said with a smile, "You look...super cute!"

Bailey laughed a happy laugh then told him she'd agonized over what to wear all day.

"I wanted to be comfortable bowling but not look ridiculous going out to eat," she confessed.

"Well, in my opinion, you hit a home run."

Leif paused, smiled again, then said, "Or would that be 'bowled a strike'?"

That made his date laugh again, and she thanked him for being so nice.

Leif also noticed a pair of gold studs in her ears and could tell she was wearing some lip gloss and little bit of mascara. 'Cute' was indeed the right word, although it was now obvious to him that she was most definitely a beautiful woman.

"Do you want a drink or anything?" Bailey asked.

"Oh. No. No, thank you. We really should get going so we can get finished before the leagues start up."

"Okay. I'm ready!" she said as she grabbed her purse and a matching pink cardigan sweater which Leif offered to help her put on. Bailey accepted, thanked him, then locked the door once they were out.

Leif then opened her door and helped her get up and into the truck and got another very pleasant 'thank you' before going around to let Lexi jump up into the back before sitting down and firing up the big rig.

"I love sitting up high like this," she told him as he put it in reverse.

"Do you drive a sedan?" he asked as he backed out of the wide driveway.

"I do. I'd love something big like this, but I've never been much of a car person, so I'm still driving the car my ex-husband bought me on my 35th birthday."

She waited for a second then said, "Looking back, I think he was feeling guilty for what he was doing at the time."

Leif put it in gear but didn't say anything.

"Sorry. No one wants to hear about the 'ex'," Bailey quickly added.

"I don't mind. In fact, I'd like to hear as much as you'd care to tell me."

He smiled, looked over at her, then said, "About anything. Your ex, your job, what you do for fun...anything."

"No more about my ex. I promise," she began. "As to work, I work at...Langley.

"You're CIA?" a very surprised Leif asked.

"I am. I've been there since I graduated from college which was...a few years ago."

Leif ignored the age comment—for now—and said, "I'm surprised you can tell me that."

Bailey laughed then said, "It's illegal for any employee of the CIA to misrepresent themself to any American citizen. And in case you're wondering, I'm not an operative."

"I'm still impressed," Leif told her truthfully.

"I'm an analyst. My area of speciality is Russia and the former Soviet Union."

Leif only knew a handful of Russian words, but he did his best to lay a few on her as he said, "O-chen pree-yat-nuh."

Bailey laughed at his terrible accent as he told her it was 'very pleasant to meet her' then replied, <<Очень приятно! Я рада узнать, что ты умеешь говорить по русский!>>

Leif looked at her like she was from the moon and said, "Huh?"

Bailey laughed when she realized he didn't actually speak the language.

"Sorry. I got excited when you said it was a pleasure to meet me, so I told you it was a pleasure for me, too, and that I was glad to know you speak Russian."

"Well, the pleased to meet you part is true," Leif replied with a laugh. "And it's even more of a pleasure to be on a first date with you. But that's about the extent of my Russian other than 'da' and 'nyet'."

Bailey's smile faded causing Leif to ask if he'd said something wrong.

"You didn't like me using the word 'date', did you?" Leif guessed.

"No. That...that was fine," she told him.

The truth was that after he said that word, it made her realize how much older than him she was.

"It's just...well...when I mentioned my car and how I got it when I was 35, that was quite a few years ago."

Leif glanced over and saw her pretty face with the smooth skin and the silky blonde hair and shook his head. It was rare but not unheard of for some women to look much younger than they were, and Bailey was quite clearly one of them. He wasn't much at speaking, but he could do the math, and now felt pretty sure she was at least 40 years old.

"I can't imagine you'd not be truthful, but I have to say I can't really wrap my brain around that."

"Well, it's true, Leif. So while I'm flattered, you should realize I'm not really anywhere close to your age."

"Ah, okay," he replied. "And that bothers you, doesn't it?"

When Bailey didn't say anything, he added, "That I'm...younger than you."

"No. Not really," she said.

There was some hesitation before she added, "At least I don't think it does."

She looked over at him then said, "I just assumed you couldn't, you know, really be...interested...in a woman my age."

"I haven't dated much since coming home from Afghanistan," Leif said without emotion. "But of the handful of women I have gone out with, I've never met anyone as beautiful—or as interesting—as you, Bailey."

Bailey felt a surge of emotion course through her body as she said, "I love that you said that, Leif. Thank you."

"It's true," he told her, the smile back on his face.

He could see she wanted to ask him something so he encouraged her to do so.

"I've met so many veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so I'm hesitant to stir up old memories, but I kind of assumed that's why this pretty girl was in your life," Bailey said as she reached over and petted Lexi's head. She'd been sitting up the entire time with her head in between her and Leif.

"She's been everything to me," Leif replied. "I still deal with a lot of stuff, but Lexi's helped me keep it together in more ways than I can count."

"I'll never ask you what you went through, but please know you can tell me as much or as little as you'd like if you ever decide you want to, okay?"

"Wow. So that's one more thing, among many, that I like about you, Bailey. And maybe one day I'll share some of that with you."

"Okay," she replied very quietly just as the huge sign for the lanes appeared on her right.

"I wonder what the 'Shirley' part means," she said, causing Leif to smile but not laugh.

"I had the same thought," he told her as he pulled in and found a place to park.

When he helped her out, they were face to face for a brief moment, and the way she smiled at him caused another one of those stirrings just as Lexi jumped out behind her.

Leif closed the door then extended his right arm along with a smile.

Bailey smiled back then put her left arm through his right and let him lead her inside as Lexi 'stood guard' on his left while they headed toward the entrance.

For the next hour and fifteen minutes or so, the two of them had a blast. Bailey was actually a pretty good bowler and had been in a league for several years when she was married. She hadn't bowled in nearly five years, but she still handily beat Leif in all three games with a high score of 182 in her best effort. Leif managed to break 100 all three times, but the most he could muster was a very meager 127.

But the scores didn't matter to either one of them. What did was having fun and getting better acquainted. And of all the fun they had, Leif thought the time that Bailey hugged him after rolling three strikes in a row in her high game was the by far the best thing that happened. He'd offered her a high five, but she threw her arms out and latched onto him, and he was happy to latch back, even if it was only for a couple of seconds.

They talked the entire time, but none of it was serious or heavy. It was just good, old-fashioned fun, and both of them had a blast.

"You hungry yet?" Leif asked once they were all back in the truck.

"Just starving!" Bailey told him with a laugh.

When she saw Leif staring she stopped laughing.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

Leif wanted to kiss her more than he'd ever wanted to kiss a woman in his life, but that wouldn't be okay. So he just smiled then told her he'd had a great time.

"Oh. Me, too!" she replied, accepting his excuse at face value.

They ate a popular chain restaurant that was just above fast food, and to Leif's surprise, Bailey told him this was a lot better than eating 'caviar and seaweed'.

Her unexpected comment made him laugh, and his laughter made her laugh, too.

"And it isn't a hundred dollars a plate!" she added before taking a healthy bite of the chicken sandwich she ordered.

There was a brief lull before Bailey asked if he'd gotten his prescription.

"Yes. I picked it up yesterday."

"Do you mind me asking how often you get migraine headaches?"

"It varies. Maybe two or three times a month?" Leif replied.

"How many of those are severe?"

"I'd say about one out of every four or five."

"I can't imagine dealing with that," Bailey said sympathetically.

"I'm glad you can't," Leif told her. "Before mine started, I had no idea what they were like myself."

"Are they connected with the war?" she asked very carefully.

"Yes. Pretty much everything is connected to it. In fact, it's all about one particular day. There were other things I saw, but none of them even fazed me until...that happened."

"War is something else I can't imagine," Bailey said just as politely. "I'm truly in awe of those who've fought to protect us since the founding of our nation."

"You fight, too, you know," Leif told her with a smile. "Not all fighting is done with rifles and bombs."

"Maybe, but it's not the same thing, and I'd never pretend that what I do is even in the same league."

"It is different, but I like to think that people like yourself help prevent wars while people like me..."

Bailey could tell he didn't want to talk about that anymore, so she smiled and said, "I've told you what I do. May I ask what it is that you do now?"

Leif gave her a quick overview of his job, and Bailey asked several questions that proved she'd been listening and that she was interested.

"I'm envious that you enjoy your work," she told him.

"Are you saying you don't enjoy yours?" Leif asked, a very surprised look on his face.

"It's...a job. But it's pretty much the same thing day after after day, year in and year out. I'm a GS-14, and I'm reasonably good at what I do, but I'd trade it all for a..."

Her voice trailed off, and Leif knew she wasn't telling him something that was important to her.

"A family?" he correctly suggested.

"Is it that obvious?" Bailey asked, a weak smile on her pretty face.

"You mentioned your sister and her kids, and since you don't have children of your own, it seemed like a reasonable conclusion. I'm not prying, so please don't feel like you need to tell me anything more."

"No, I don't mind at all," Bailey told him, the smile growing a little wider.

She then gave him an equally brief overview of her marriage, how it ended, and without going into detail, she let him know how utterly alone she often felt.

"I'm sure that's why I spend as much time with my sister and her family as I can."

"It sounds to me like you'd like to have that for yourself one day," Leif politely offered.

"More than anything," Bailey replied almost wistfully. "But finding someone I can trust and love and who'll love me back without expecting perfection seems to be my impossible dream."

Leif hesitated before bringing up the war again, but a few seconds later he said, "One of the many things the war changed in me was the desire to have a family. Before Afghanistan, settling down was the last thing I wanted. I had big dreams of a career in the Marine Corps and maybe even being a general someday. But the thought of having someone to come home to every day seems a lot more like heaven on earth to me now than any career."

"I suppose that depends on having the right person to come home to," Bailey suggested with a sweet smile.

That started a conversation about what 'being the right person' meant, and as Bailey did her best to put her feelings into words, Leif realized she shared his vision of what a spouse should be to a an incredibly uncanny degree.

"That's amazing," he told her at one point. "I've spent a lot of time thinking about this 'right person', and I couldn't agree more with your take on it."

"I have no hidden agenda," Bailey replied. "What you see is what you get."

Leif looked her sitting there with her hair in a ponytail in her cute little pink top and said, "Well, I have to tell you that I really like what I see, Bailey."

He smiled then added, "And what I've heard."

Her facial expression changed rather quickly which caused Leif to ask what was wrong.

"I don't think you gave enough thought to...how old my car is," she told him, as her concerns about her age again reared their ugly head.

It took his brain a few seconds to recall the comment, and when it did, Leif told her he remembered what she'd said.

Sure he still didn't understand, Bailey told him her car was six years old.

"Nearly seven."

"I'm an engineer, Bailey. I can do the math," he told her with a smile.

"Then you should know how impossible that makes this."

"This...as in—you and me?"

"Yes. I don't see how there could be anything more than a friendship."

It wasn't said in any kind of mean way. In fact, it almost sounded apologetic, and yet Leif took it to mean she was trying to let him know this one evening was going to be it.

Leif looked down at his plate for a moment then back at Bailey before he said, "I get the impression that maybe I'm not the 'right kind of guy' for you."

Bailey shook her head a little, furrowed her brow, then asked Leif what he meant by that.

"It feels like you're trying to politely let me know you don't see me as the kind of man you described a little earlier," he said with no hint of resentment or hurt feelings.

"What? No. That's not true. You're...you're exactly that kind of man," she told him so sincerely that Leif was even more confused.

"Hold on. So are telling me that the age difference is the only thing holding you back?"

Again, Bailey did a little head shake.

"Are you telling me it doesn't concern you? At all?" she asked, her eyebrows raised and her eyes open wide.

"I...I guess I am," Leif said. "Should it?"

"I don't see how it can't," Bailey replied, as if she were trying to convince him it should.