On The Rebound

"Could this have anything to do with your experiences overseas?"

"I don't know dad. That was hell and I try my best to not think about it, at least when I am awake."

"Do you mean that you are still having nightmares?"

"Well yeah, maybe not as often as I did right after I got home, but I still have them."

"I think that we need to get in touch with VA and have you talk to someone about this son. You should not be having problems like that at this late date. There is definitely something wrong."

"Okay, but can you talk to Don for me and try to explain? I don't know what to say to him, and there is no way that I can talk to Robin. She must hate me now, which is probably a good thing."

"If you just say to him what you did to us he'll understand. I'm sure that he will forgive you. Don has been your friend for a long time."

"I'm not sure that I want him to mom, I can no longer ignore his actions, and I doubt that I can convince him to change. I think I would be better off without any friends. If there is no one around me, then I can't hurt any one else."

"That's no way to live son. A man needs to share his life with people, or it has no meaning. You need to make more friends, not less."

I just shook my head and started to eat the meal that I had let get cold. Even cold my dad's chili was good eating.

I stayed in my old room that night. It was somehow comforting, and I slept better than I had for weeks. I had to get up early so I would have time to stop by my apartment and pick up my books and such for class.

That day and the next two I went through in a daze. I had no idea what went on in class and I was at work going through the motions. Marsha was spending a lot of time with me at work, but not talking much. I just did what I had to and nothing more.

Wednesday I was to be off work, and got home from classes not knowing what I was going to do. When I got to my door, I just stopped and stared. Robin was sitting on the floor with her back against my door.

"Please don't get upset Mark. I really need to talk to you. Marsha told me that you were off tonight and this was all that I could think of to do."

Robin looked like she had not had a very good few days either. She looked so forlorn sitting there staring up at me.

I shrugged and held my hand down for her. She took it and a shock passed through me. This was the first time that we had actually touched. I lifted her up beside me and unlocked the door. I led her in and pulled out a seat at the kitchen table then proceeded to make coffee.

I didn't know what to do, why was she here? How could I make up for what I had done?

"Will you listen to me now Mark?"

"I don't seem to have much choice here. I'd say that I'm sorry about what I said to you, but that is pretty inadequate. I don't know what set me off, but you didn't deserve what I said."

"Thank you for that Mark, but I deserved some of it. Don told me some of your history, and I can understand why you were so leery of me. Did girls actually go out with you to get you to introduce them to him? I can't believe how much that had to hurt."

"Yes, they did, and yes, it did. But that was a long time ago. It had nothing to do with you."

"You said that you had survived a war, and I asked Don about it. He told me about some of the things you hinted at from Vietnam. He said that you would never talk about it directly, but what you did say made him very glad that he was not there."

"I try not to say anything about that period of my life. My folks think I need to talk to someone about it though and they are going to get in touch with the Veterans Administration to get me some help. I was a medic flying medevac and we flew into a lot of hot zones. I saw a lot of things I really don't want to remember. You don't need to be around someone as unstable as I am."

"I'll be the one to decide that, not you. You fascinate me and I want to get to know you better. I have never met a man who could make me forget everything like you do. I know that I have been self absorbed and vain, I want you to help me be a better person."

"That's a hell of a load to place on a guy. I showed the other day that I'm not a very good person; how can I help you?"

"By not letting me get away with my shit. Every time I start acting like a prom queen, I want you to shut me down. We already know that you aren't affected by my looks, and I need that."

"Whoa there missy, I never said that your beauty didn't get to me; just that since there was no way you would want me, I could ignore it. I'll give it a try, but what happens now?"

"Well, to start with, we go on dates. We will take it slow and see just how much we have in common. I think that there will be a lot more than you believe. For right now, do you have enough supplies for me to cook dinner for you?"

"There should be, I try to keep enough here for a good meal. My folks taught me quite a bit about cooking wholesome food and I have usually eaten pretty well."

"Great Mark, your parents sound nice and I want to meet them soon. If you are willing to, on the holiday break maybe you can go to Ohio with me and meet my parents."

"Let's not put the cart before the horse Robin, if we are together I'll be glad to meet them. Does this statement by you that we are to date mean that we will be exclusive? I mean, you won't be dating anyone else?"

"No Mark, I won't be dating anyone else, would you be willing to go steady with me?"

The relief was probably evident in my expression as she giggled. I had not heard her do this before, and I felt it all the way through my being. "It's not as if I have a lot of other options. I'll gladly play along until you realize your mistake."

"No more of that self defeating attitude here buster, I don't think it is a mistake. Now let me do some cooking."

I had some hamburger in the fridge and spaghetti noodles and sauce in the pantry. While I prepared the noodles Robin fried the hamburger, drained it, and added the sauce. She went nuts in my spice cabinet and added several things to the sauce that I didn't recognize. I surreptitiously stole a taste and was astounded by what she had done to plain basic sauce. She also had me fine chop an onion and toast some bread. She made a garlic butter to spread on the bread and I pulled out a bottle of red wine to go with the meal. A small salad of lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and celery finished off the dining experience. I was amazed that we worked together so smoothly, everything seemed to be chorused into a whole.

When we had everything assembled and on the table, I pulled out a chair for Robin, seated her and poured a glass of wine.

I raised my glass toward hers, "A toast pretty lady, to serendipity, and to possibly finding joy on the rebound."

(to be continued)