Miniature Golf

"Don't ask me. Since your mom passed away, I haven't even been on a date, and the truth is, I have no interest. Anyway..."

"It's funny you brought up dating. I say that because although Tiger Woods didn't drop by, I did kind of meet someone tonight."

"At the damn putt-putt place?" his father said, suddenly perking up. "Is there anywhere you can't pick up women?"

Neil had more opportunities than one could shake the proverbial stick at, but he was extremely selective about the women he dated. So this announcement really caught his father's attention and also reminded him of his own days back in college before meeting Beth when he'd been able to find a girl to 'hook up' with almost anytime he wanted.

"Yeah. This...this freaking gorgeous woman came in with her son because today was his birthday."

"You don't say. How old is the kid, and how old is she?" his father asked now that he knew this gorgeous woman wasn't a coed.

"He's nine, and I don't know about her. All I can tell you is she's incredibly nice, and...hot as hell. She has to be over 30, but there's no way she's over 40."

"You're interested in a woman over 30?" his dad asked, but not in an accusatory way.

Neil turned and looked right at his father then said, "Yeah. I kinda am."

"Ten years is a lot of years, son," his dad replied.

"It might even be more than ten, Dad. But the funny thing is, I felt something; something I've never felt before."

He saw his dad smile and knew why immediately.

"Okay, okay. I know I don't exactly have a wealth of experience when it comes to women, but that doesn't mean there wasn't some kind of connection."

His dad didn't laugh. In fact, he surprised Neil by saying, "Maybe you should ask her out then."

He surprised his dad even more by telling him that he'd done that, and that did cause his father to chuckle before saying, "I don't know whether to congratulate you or counsel you on your lack of judgment."

"When you meet her, you'll know what I mean about being beautiful. She's maybe 5'7" or so, thin but not skinny, and she's got long, dark hair and these amazing blue eyes. And that smile of hers is...it's a killer, Dad. And did I mention how nice she is?"

"You might have let that slip out, but let's be honest here. The one thing you can be sure of is she doesn't like you for your money."

Neil gave his dad a look, but when the older man started laughing, his son laughed, too.

"Am I crazy?" he asked his father.

"Again, don't ask me. All I can say is love is a strange animal, Neil my boy. Sometimes it lurks in the background and takes months or even years to make its presence known. Then at other times it just...pounces on us and makes us do things we never dreamed of. All in all, the main thing is finding someone who supports you and who's completely committed to staying together. You gotta have a few things in common, of course, but if she's not committed to commitment—run like hell."

"It's too early to say anything more than I'm kind of crushin' on her, but she seems like an amazing woman, and I...I really enjoyed the time I spent with her son whose name is Kenny."

"After saying I don't have any advice, I've already offered some, so let me offer a little more while I'm at it," his dad said without waiting for approval. "Just take things slow and see where they go. It's unlikely any given relationship is going to be the one, and with such a big difference in age, this one seems unlikely in the extreme. But if you like her and she wants to spend some time with you then take some time and see how you really feel about her. What I will tell you is that there are a lot of things more important than age, and obviously there's no guarantee a marriage will last a lifetime no matter how much you have in common. That may not be all that helpful as I'm just kind of restating the obvious, but love isn't subject to any formula. You kind of play it by ear, and if it's meant to be it just sort of unfolds all by itself."

In an unusual moment of seriousness, Neil said, "Thanks, Dad."

"Sure thing. Just remember my advice is free, and that you get what you pay for," his dad replied with a wink. "You want a beer?"

"No, thanks. I'm gonna go do a little reading for class then hit the rack."

The retired colonel smiled but didn't mention how good it was to almost have another Marine around the house who spoke his language. Best of all, his son had had a first taste of the life his father had lived and loved, and so far he seemed to want more of it. Whether he did or not, Keith Monroe was damn proud of his son and planned to let his mother know that yet again once he was alone.

That same night while Neil was talking with his father, Madison was tucking Kenny in when he surprised her and gave her a huge hug and told her he loved her.

"I love you, too, buddy," she said back.

Curious, she asked if everything was okay.

"Uh-huh," he said with a happy smile. "Everything is just...fine! Today was my birthday and I made a new best friend."

The confusion had waned again, but Madison knew that was only because she'd forced herself to stop trying to make sense of what she'd been feeling. But now that Kenny had reminded her of the source of the confusion, and also having just announced that the source was his new best friend made her realize this wasn't going to go away until she dealt with it.

The solution seemed simple. The bigger problem, of course, was how to go about dealing it without anyone getting hurt—especially her nine-year old son.

She wasn't about to pass on any of her own anxiety to her son, so she only smiled and told him she was glad he had a good day.

"Mom?" he said.

"Yes?"

"I really like Neil."

Not sure what else to say, she settled on, "Oh, okay. That's really wonderful. Good night, honey. I love you."

"I love you, too!" he said before turning over on his side and pulling the covers up over his neck.

Unable to think of a way to get herself out of the mess she'd gotten into, Madison decided to go lay down herself and see if she could make it all go away by falling asleep. But when midnight came and went, she was still wide awake and staring at the ceiling fan above her bed as she tried to understand why she was so wrapped around the axle about...

"About what?" she asked herself for the umpteenth time before turning on her side to see if that might help.

When she continued recalling the events of the evening from the way Neil had come to Kenny's defense to his very sweet text, she was ready to give up trying. She had to go to work in seven more hours, and she needed at least six of those to be spent sleeping.

But it took another hour to finally fall asleep after reminding herself she barely even knew this...man. But that thought only caused her to remind herself that she could change that by getting to know him, which made her ask herself why she would ever want to do something that made so little sense.

Mercifully, this endless loop eventually gave way to fatigue and Madison was able to get five full hours of rest before getting up and starting another day in which she'd make just enough money to pay her bills. If she were lucky, there might be a few dollars left over a day after payday with the key words being 'if' and 'might'.

Kenny was almost always in a good mood in the morning, but he was exceptionally bubbly at breakfast as his very-tired mother sipped coffee while he crunched cereal.

"I had the best time ever playing putt-putt with Neil," were his first words after 'good morning'.

His mom smiled but didn't say anything.

"Can we use our free tickets today?" was the next thing he said.

"Today? Don't you think we should save them?"

"Why?" Kenny asked.

"So we'll have something to look forward to," his mother said, hoping to use this as a so-called teachable moment.

"How about Friday?" Kenny suggested in between big bites.

"How about—we'll see?" his mother countered.

"Okay," Kenny replied, his mouth stuffed with soggy cereal.

As she stood in the shower, Madison tried to clear her head, but she found it impossible when she told herself she needed to at least answer Neil's text. But how? What would she say? What should she say?

Her very long hair wrapped in a towel drying enough so she could blow dry it, Madison sat on the bed and reread Neil's text. She drew in a deep breathe then exhaled slowly before replying.

"Hi, Neil. First of all, there's nothing to apologize for. I didn't feel 'cajoled'. But I do feel...confused. I have to admit Kenny thinks the world of you, and I can't thank you enough for standing up for him. As you can imagine, he has a hard time making friends, and he definitely bonded with you. As much as that means to me, you know I'm also worried he'll get his hopes up only to have them dashed. I'm not implying you'd do that intentionally. On the contrary, I think you're a very nice young man. But the welfare of my son has to come first. So while you also made quite an impression on me, as well, I'm not sure it would be a good idea to see you again even though I said I would. Please don't take that as a rejection. Were you a few years older, I'm sure my current 'fence-sitting position' as to whether or not to spend more time with you would tilt in the 'yes' direction. But, as much as I hate to say it, I'm 36 years old, Neil, and you're not even out of college. Anyway, I hope you understand. You're a very attractive guy, and again, were you even say...30...that would make a world of difference. But you're not, and I'm rambling and I apologize, but the short amount of time we spent together has caused me all kinds of mental angst. My life is complicated enough without having to constantly wonder why I'm even attracted at all to someone your age, so it really would be best if we left things right where they are. Again, thank you for your kindness and your friendship as well as the sweet things you said. I hope we can at least be friends."

Madison read what she wrote and knew she could edit it forever and still not say things the right way so she hit 'send' and went to blow dry her hair and get ready for work.

Neil was just starting his first morning class when he got her text. He would have ignored it had it been from anyone else, but when he saw Madison's name, he tuned out the TA teaching who was droning on and read the text.

Rather than be discouraged, Neil saw hope in what she'd written and planned to address her concerns in his reply once he had some free time to collect his thoughts and plan his response.

He had a three-hour break between classes that day following his first lecture, and he normally spent that time in the library studying then grabbing a bite to eat before going to his next class.

Today, Madison was his first priority, so after rereading her text and absorbing what she said, and even more importantly, what she implied, he gave some thought to how to answer her.

"I'm really glad you replied. I was thinking perhaps I'd offended you to the point that you wanted nothing to do with me. Well, you kind of implied that was the case but not exactly."

He put in a smiley face emoji then continued.

"What I'm feeling is very different than what you wrote. Your words alone say you don't want to see me again because of concerns you have. But underneath all that is where the something different can be found. I know I don't know much about you, but I 'hear' you telling me you really would like to see me again, IF you knew you wouldn't have to worry about Kenny or what you may perceive as my lack of maturity.

Let me start by saying age and maturity aren't synonymous. Some men are 40 or 50 and still make the same mistakes year in and year out. They lack initiative or sticktoitness (if that's even a word.) Perhaps perseverance is the better choice. They can't commit or stay committed. They have wandering eyes and unfaithful hearts. I'm none of those things, Madison. I'm not looking for a 'hook up' or anything close to that. I'm young, but I'm family oriented and I'm ready to commit to the right person. And once I commit to something I never quit. Ever.

As to Kenny, I understand completely how you feel. All I can tell you is that I enjoyed 'golfing' with him as much as he did with me. I have no way of knowing if you and I would ever become permanent fixtures in each other's lives, but I can promise you I will never intentionally hurt you or Kenny.

I really did enjoy spending time with both of you, Madison. And nothing would make me happier than to be able to spend more of it with you—with both of you—better. Again, I can't promise I can overcome all of your concerns, but unless we do spend some more time together, we'll never find out. And I, for one, would very much like to know. And my gut tells me you would, too.

So please don't dismiss the possibility of 'us' out of hand. Give me the opportunity to show you I'm not the typical 21-year old guy. I'm confident enough to say that if you will, you'll be pleasantly surprised. And from there...who knows?

Wow. I just realized that what I wrote sounds pretty intense. But as I said, I'm being forced to break down some pretty heavy walls here to even have a chance with someone like yourself."

He added another smiley face then wrapped it up.

"Please give this some careful though, and have a wonderful day. And please give my best to Kenny, okay?"

He thought about adding some hearts, but he wasn't sure that was okay and left it at that.

Madison worked at a beauty salon, and she was with a customer when her phone buzzed. She was cutting the woman's hair and nearly lopped off the entire handful she was snipping when she saw who it was from.

"Sorry," she told the woman. "I'm a little distracted today."

"Ahh. Must be love," the older woman said with a warm smile. "Care to talk about it?"

"Is it that obvious?" Madison asked.

"It is now," the woman said as she laughed.

"I don't want you to think I'm a basket case," Madison said.

"You've been cutting my hair for what? Nine months now? I won't think that because love makes all of us do some crazy things."

Madison's best friend also worked at the salon, a woman a little younger than her named Gabby. She overheard the conversation and decided not to say anything about this mysterious new man in her best friend's life who was clearly causing her so much trouble.

That lasted until lunchtime when Gabby grabbed her friend and said, "Come on. Lunch is on me today."

As they looked over the menu at a little diner just down the street, Gabby said, "I'm expecting something in return for buying you lunch, Madison."

"Uh-oh. Please don't tell me you have another uncle you want to set me up with."

Gabby laughed and assured her she didn't.

"No, no more uncles, and I do apologize about the disaster my only uncle turned out to be. That said, I did kind of overhear you talking about someone who's making you crazy."

"Oh. Now I see," Madison teased. "So you were eavesdropping?"

"Not intentionally. I just happened to hear. That's all," Gabby said before adding, "So?"

"Oh, my gosh! Gabby, this is so...embarrassing!"

"Hmmm. Sounds like this could be juicy!"

"No. It's definitely not juicy. It's just...weird."

"Oh, okay. Whew. Glad we settled that!"

"Gabby! Stop," Madison told her as their server came to take their orders.

"Fine. I'll stop if you'll start."

Madison sighed another long sigh then dove in headfirst and told her friend everything that had happened from the time the walked up the counter at the miniature golf course through Neil's last text. She even let Gabby read their text exchanges, and to Madison's surprise, her friend got serious.

"Honey? This guy likes you. A lot. And he likes Kenny. And Kenny likes him. You said he's super nice and that he stuck up for your son when he was being bullied, and that was before he even knew you. Then we have the part where a guy actually tells you upfront he's not just looking for a hook-up and that he thinks you're beautiful. Come on, Maddy, that's all ANY guy is ever looking for, right? And last but not least you said, and I quote, 'He's freaking gorgeous'! So what am I missing?"

Madison's jaw dropped as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Did you miss the very important little detail about him being twenty..."

She realized how loudly she was speaking and stopped then finished in a whisper.

"Twenty-one? Twenty-one for crying out loud. How am I even thinking about seeing him again?"

Gabby reached across the table and put her hand on her friend's arm then said, "I can't answer that for you. But having been cheated on twice before, I can tell you that good men are hard to find. Sure, maybe I've been looking in the wrong places all my life, but I'd give anything to have a man that committed to me and our marriage."

Gabby could see how tortured Madison was by this and tried to stay supportive.

"But he's...21, Gabby. Not...31. Twenty-one!" Madison reemphasized.

"Sweetie? I heard you when you said that the first two times. I'm not dismissing it, but just looking at the way he writes, he sounds more like my father than...than someone who's, you know..."

"Twenty-one?" Madison said, that tortured look still there until Gabby raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side causing Madison to finally laugh.

"So maybe give this Neil guy a chance."

"But what if Kenny ends up getting hurt?"

"Good point," Gabby said, drawing her friend into her web.

"See? You understand!"

"What I meant, and what I understand is, that he could be 31 or even 41, and Kenny could still get hurt. So...do you understand that?"

"I kind of hate you right now," Madison replied quietly, the hint of a little smile forming visible at the corners of her mouth.

"Because you hate being wrong," Gabby told her. "But what if, and I know this is a big 'if'. But what if he's the perfect guy for you? What if he is and you never find out because you're so hung up his age rather than his...what did he say? Maturity?"

"Yes. Maturity. And he really is incredibly mature. I honesty felt like he was the older person when we were together. But once I really started thinking about his age, I...I panicked."

"That's what friends are for, Maddy. We listen. We offer advice. We provide support. So now that you've aired this all out, what are you going to do?"

"Cry?" Madison suggested, unable to keep from laughing once Gabby started.

"No, you're not going to cry. You're going to text him back and tell him you'd love to see him again."

"Love to? You mean 'like to' or...'be willing to', right?

"You can choose whatever word you like, hon. Just let him know you're interested. And while I'm talking...how about letting me do something with your hair?"

"What kind of something?" Madison asked even though Gabby was by far the best stylist in the salon.

"You're beautiful, sweetie. God knows I'd kill to have your looks. I'm 32 and I look five years older than you, for cryin' out loud."

"You do not!" Madison told her even though what Gabby'd just said was true.

"Well, thank you. I'll take the compliment. But you really need to cut your hair. And style it."

"What? No way. I'm not cutting my hair. Uh-uh!"

"Relax. I'm not talking about something above your ears even though you'd be too-die-for cute in what I'm picturing," Gabby said as she imagined her friend with something sassier.

Madison gave her the 'death stare' so Gabby got serious.

"You've worn your hair to the middle of your back for years, right? And while it really does look amazing on you, we need to bring it up a little."

Madison flinched so Gabby quickly assured her it would still touch her shoulders.

"And no offense, hon, but parting your hair in the middle like that went out in the early 70's."