Things Change

She, in turn, now knew he'd grown up near Seattle, gone to college, and that he shared her newest passion. The only uncomfortable moment came when Joan said with a hint of snideness, "Gee, maybe you two should go for a run together. Or...whatever."

Jared saw Jaclyn look down the moment Joan said it, and he shot her a rare look of 'watch it' which caused her to claim she was being sincere, something neither he nor her mother believed for a second.

Jaclyn managed to excuse herself after a post-dinner glass of wine. She thanked Verna Mae for her hospitality, told Joan how nice it was to see her again, then let Jared know it had been a real pleasure meeting him. He said the same, and that was that.

Not long after Jaclyn left, Jared was finally alone with Joan and knew it was time to talk. They were both sitting on the coach when he turned toward her and said, "I've been thinking."

"About wearing the shirts, I hope?" she asked, never dreaming he would break up with her.

"About us."

"And?" she asked, her eyebrows now up high.

"We're...we're not a good fit, Joan."

"What? What does that even mean?" she said indignantly as she turned to face him and intimidate him with an icy stare.

Unmoved and undaunted, Jared quietly told her, "It means I've decided not to see you again."

There was no emotion in his voice and no hint of it on his face.

"You can't just decide that without discussing it with me," she told him very defensively.

"You see, that's what's wrong. You can't see it, but you need to control...everything."

"I do not!" she shot back, a look of hurt and anger on her face.

Very calmly and quietly Jared continued.

"This isn't a debate, Joan. I'm letting you know as nicely as I can, that I don't want to be with you."

"You're kidding."

"No. I'm not kidding. I'm serious. And I hope you'll at least be willing to take a look at yourself and see if what I'm saying isn't at least partially..."

"Oh, that's rich! I need to look at myself? How about you? You're the one who needs to do some introspection!"

"I've never claimed to be perfect," Jared said just as quietly.

"No, but you don't even try. If you did, you'd be wearing one of the shirts I bought you."

"So you could...show me off?" he asked, still no hint of any emotion in his voice.

Joan turned away from him and went on a tear.

"You know what? I should have done this to you two weeks ago! You...you have no idea what compromise means. Everything is always about you. It's what you want, what you will and won't do, and..."

"Is everything okay in here?" Verna Mae asked in that sweet, southern way.

"Jared was just leaving, Mama," her daughter said with venom in her voice as she turned her head and drilled holes into Jared's eyes.

He stood up, thanked Verna Mae for another wonderful dinner, then gave her a hug.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were going off to war or something!" the older woman said.

"No. Not today, anyway," he told her with a smile as he let her go.

Joan refused to even look at him, and that's when Verna Mae realized what was going on.

"No. You two are not breaking up. Please tell me you're not."

"I think it's for the best," Jared quietly told her before thanking her again and letting her know he'd show himself out.

As he closed the door, he heard Verna Mae say, "What did you do this time?" followed by the sound of Joan bursting into tears.

"Man, oh man. You really dodged a bullet, big guy," the six-foot tall Marine NCO said to himself as he fired up the Jeep Wrangler and headed back to his off-base apartment.

*****

Six weeks later

Jared looked at his watch and knew he had less than ten minutes to get in and out before the store closed, so he hurried inside and grabbed a cart.

He made a quick trip around the store tossing in the things he needed as he came upon them. He was on the last aisle when he looked up and saw a woman about 20 feet in front of him. She had her long, dark hair pulled into a flat ponytail and was pushing a cart ahead of him, and even though he wasn't sure, he thought he knew her.

"Excuse me," he said as he pulled up alongside her.

"Jared?" the surprised woman said immediately after turning to see who it was.

The look of surprise quickly vanished and was replaced by a beautiful smile.

"I can't believe you remember me," he told her.

"Oh, I remember you," she said almost bashfully as she looked away.

"What are the odds, right?" he said, just as she began moving again.

"Truly. What brings you out here so late at night? And to a grocery store no less?" she asked with another warm smile.

She looked in his cart and saw it was filled with healthy food and laughed. He picked up on it, looked in hers, and saw the same kinds of things.

"I take it you're still running," Jared said. He felt almost nervous, something that hadn't happened to him even when talking with a beautiful woman since he was in high school.

"I'm no quitter," Jaclyn said as she tried not to laugh.

Jared did laugh, and that allowed her to do so, too.

"Unless you count my marriage. I did quit that," she added, her voice now more somber sounding.

"From what I understand, you fought the good fight for a very long time," Jared said in a supportive way.

"I did try. Lord knows I tried," she replied before forcing another smile.

"How about you?" Jaclyn asked.

"According to Joan, I am. A quitter," he replied with a smile.

"I'm sorry?" she said, having no idea what he meant.

"No, I'm the one who needs to apologize. After you used the word 'quitter', and because you also know Joan, I assumed you knew the connection."

Jaclyn gave him a look indicating she had no idea what he was saying, so Jared explained.

"She uses the word 'quitter' rather freely. In my case, I didn't finish college. I enlisted with a year to go, and Joan accused me of quitting. Technically, she's correct, but there are some very good reasons why I did. I am going to finish, but that didn't seem to matter to her."

"Oh, okay," Jaclyn replied. "Now I get it, and I completely understand."

"But to answer your question, I'm not married," Jared said before realizing that wasn't what she'd asked.

"I know you're not," she replied very sweetly. "And I know you and Joan broke up."

What she didn't tell him was that she hadn't asked him if he was married. In fact, the conversation took such an unusual turn that she forgot having asked anything at all.

As they pulled up to register number 3, the only one still open, Jaclyn mentioned having seen Joan one more time after the Sunday dinner as she set her items on the counter.

"I honestly don't understand her hangup with the age difference. It was only what? Three years?" she said as she continued unloading the buggy.

Jared laughed and said very seriously, "Three...and a HALF."

Jaclyn chuckled and told him Joan mentioned him saying that and how she didn't think it was funny. At all.

"A lot of things weren't very funny to her," Jared said with a kind of a sigh.

"Even so, I still can't understand her being so hung up on three years. I mean, I'm, well, quite a few years older than Joan, and I thought, 'I wouldn't even care about the much larger age difference between you and me', and honestly, three or four yeas seems trivial."

Jared smiled, but when Jaclyn turned to him with a look of near horror on her face, he stopped smiling.

"Oh my gosh! I...I didn't mean it like that, Jared. I wasn't implying or hinting that I was..."

"I didn't assume you were," he assured her with a kind look and a smile. "But I'd have been flattered if you were," just as the cashier announced her total.

He'd already put his things up, too, as they were talking, and as she was paying, Jaclyn said, "It was really nice seeing you again."

"Yes. Same here," Jared replied as his items were being rung up.

"I uh, I guess I'll see around then," Jaclyn told him as she got behind her cart again that was now half filled with bagged groceries.

Just as she began pushing, Jared said, "Jaclyn? Would you mind if I walked out with you?"

She looked at her groceries then back at him before saying, "Oh. Well, it is really dark outside, so yes. I'd appreciate that."

Jared paid with a credit card, helped bag his own groceries, put them in the cart himself and quickly pushed it even with Jaclyn's.

"I still can't believe we ran into one another," she said as they headed outside together.

"Maybe it's a sign," Jared said with a laugh.

"Right. That must be it," Jaclyn agreed with a little laugh of her own as she pointed out where her car was parked among the half dozen or so others left in the lot.

When they got to it, Jared offered to put her groceries in the trunk. She knew it would be easier for her to do it herself, but she also knew why he was asking and liked knowing that a man was still willing to help a woman.

"Um, yes. Thank you. That would be very kind of you."

"My pleasure," he told her as she popped the trunk and he began grabbing bags.

In less than a minute, everything was in the trunk, Jared shut it and turned to Jaclyn.

"When did you talk to Joan again?" he asked before quickly saying it was none of his business.

She smiled and told him it wasn't any big secret.

"I actually called her mom to thank her for dinner and invited her—and Joan—to have dinner with me the following weekend. I didn't think they'd actually take me up on it, and I thought that even if Verna Mae did, Joan wouldn't show up."

The way Jared looked at her caused her to think he missed Joan, and she mentioned it.

"What? No. Not at all," he told her without any hint of malice or ill will. "She's a nice enough girl. We're just not right for each other."

Jaclyn looked at his groceries, and even though it was very cold outside meaning nothing would spoil, Jared took the hint and said he should probably take care of them.

"Maybe we'll bump into each other again one of these days," she said, that amazing smile on her very pretty face.

"Yeah, maybe so. And...I'd like that," Jared said as he moved behind his cart just as she reached for the door handle.

He quickly moved her way and said, "May I?"

Again, she loved having a man be a gentleman, something she'd rarely experienced in her marriage, and stepped back a bit.

"Thank you," she told him as she sat down.

"Jaclyn?" Jared said once she looked up, waiting for him to close the door.

"Uh huh?"

"Listen. I know it's late and this was a chance meeting and all, but, well, I...I was wondering. Would you...maybe like to go out sometime?"

She'd meant what she said before about the age difference not bothering her, but she had no idea Jared would ever actually ask or out. He was young, gorgeous, and could date pretty much anyone he wanted. So even though she heard what he said it took her a moment to respond.

Before he did, Jared smiled then said, "You know. With me. A younger man."

"I...I'd love to," a very surprised Jaclyn told him without giving it any additional thought.

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Very much," she said with enthusiasm.

"Great. Can I maybe get your number?"

She provided it, and Jared entered it into his iPhone and promised to text her soon.

"I hope you will, Jared, and I'll look forward to it!"

She closed her door, but before she could start the car, she saw an incoming text and laughed.

"Seeing you again made my day!" it said.

She rolled down the window and with a little laugh said, "And you made mine, too!"

Jared waved as she drove off and stood there for a few seconds thinking about how fortunate he was to have run into her and how odd it was to have done so at that time of night anywhere in town other than maybe a bar. And yet that was even more unlikely as he rarely ever went to one.

As he drove back he started wondering if maybe Jaclyn was 'damaged goods'. He'd heard a tiny amount of her side of the story, but it was possible she had serious issues of her own; issues like someone else he'd recently dated, and that thought sent an icy chill through him.

Jaclyn was as attractive as any woman he'd ever met, but looks alone weren't that big a deal to him as he'd been told he was cute or handsome his entire life. Even so, it sometimes seemed like a handicap the way having money did. Maybe it was the same for everyone, but he felt like it was often difficult to determine if a girl really liked him for himself or if she just thought he was 'hot'. Just saying that to himself made him feel petty and small because it sounded so vain, and there was no way he'd ever say that out loud to anyone else.

All through high school and college and his first couple of years on active duty, that hadn't mattered. He'd never even given it any thought. It was one of those things that 'just was', and as long as he was getting laid on a regular basis, nothing else seemed important. Up until Joan, he'd had no troubling finding willing partners, and yet, as he reflected back on his first failed relationship, he realized he'd learned a lot from it.

One of the biggest lessons was that he was now at a point where the thought of a relationship didn't scare him. In fact, it had a newfound appeal that he liked a lot, and as he shifted his thoughts back to Jaclyn, he not only didn't shiver at the thought of being in a relationship with her, it actually made him smile. If, of course, she wasn't a mess on the inside.

He had no idea what might happen with her specifically, but he was starting to get a good feel for what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. For several months now he'd felt really good about leaving active duty and finishing his degree. During his final year in school he'd turn his attention to a job or career even though he still had no real idea what that might look like, and at some point maybe a wife and possibly a kid or two.

The only thing that had any appeal to him at the time was the possibility of coming back on active duty as an officer, a thought that made him laugh when he realized the way he and most other Marines regarded second lieutenants. It probably wasn't fair, but his overall impression was that they should be required to wear signs that read, "Kick me I'm stupid!"

He chuckled at the thought of having that sign hung around his own neck the day he got commissioned then went back to thinking about other things like...getting married or starting a family. It wasn't like he was 40, so why did he perpetually feel alone now rather than happy to still be 'footloose and fancy free'?

Even when he and Joan were having a decent time, he never really felt connected with her. In fact, he'd never really sought a connection with anyone before. But now he had this indescribable, unsettling, and growing need to be connected; a need he didn't understand and couldn't explain. But it did explain his concern with who Jaclyn was and his second guessing his decision to ask her out. And the only reason he had was because...she was hot. Very hot. And that took him full circle to wondering if the only reason she'd said 'yes' was because he was a reasonably decent-looking guy.

Back at his apartment the following morning, Jared was trying to decide what to do with Jaclyn or where to take her. Bill noticed the frustration and asked what was going on.

"I met someone."

"Hold on. When did you have time to meet someone? You got in around 11:30 and went to bed."

Jared was chuckling and getting ready to answer when Bill said, "Oh. Don't tell me. You went for a run already and literally ran into some babe."

"No. Well, I did kind of run into her, but it wasn't this morning or on a run. It was at the grocery store last night."

"No way."

"Yes. Way. Just before it closed at 11."

"And you managed to get her name and number. Just like that," Bill said with a shake of his disbelieving head.

"Yes and no. I did get her number, but I met her once before, so I already knew her name. I met her at Joan's. Or rather Joan's mother's place."

"Ah, okay. When you went for...supper."

Jared laughed and said that was the when it happened.

"Oh, now I remember. You mentioned this super hot chick who was there. Older than you—or Joan. Am I right?"

"Bingo. Her name is Jaclyn, and yeah, she's...hot."

"So...is there a little..."

Bill held his arms out and started thrusting his hips as he said, "A little 'chicka wow wow' in your future?"

Jared just shook his head and didn't bother saying anything.

"What? What's wrong with that?"

Rather than answer the rhetorical question, Jared asked, "Any idea where to take her to make a good first impression?"

"Jesus. You like this woman, don't you? As in 'like' her."

"Yeah, I kinda do. I don't really know her, but I don't know. I have this...feeling about her."

"Ah, okay. As in...feeling?" Bill asked as he used his hands to indicate squeezing two breasts at the same time.

Jared sighed then asked again.

"How about The Battery?" Bill suggested.

"In Charleston?"

"Yeah. Charleston."

Jared shook his head then said, "I don't know. She lived there for two years. I can't imagine that'd be very interesting."

"Okay, but what if you read up on the history and could give her a kind of running tour as you look around?"

Jared stared at his roommate who could often be a troglodyte and smiled.

"You're not as dumb as you look, Sampson."

"Ah, gee, Quinn. That may just be the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

Bill turned around after saying that then muttered, "Asshole."

Jared laughed but thanked him for the idea.

"Yeah, sure. Anytime."

When Jared texted Jaclyn, he apologized for suggesting something she'd probably seen 'a thousand times', but she surprised him when she told him she'd love to.

"It's one of my favorite places in the world," she wrote back.

"Maybe we could go early then grab lunch?"

"I'd love to!"

"Okay, great. How about I pick you up around 10am on Saturday?"

"Sounds wonderful!" Jaclyn texted back.

Bill saw his buddy smiling and said, "You're welcome. You're still an asshole, but you're welcome."

"Sorry, bro," Jared said with sincerity.

"Nah, it's okay. Just do me a favor. Maybe see if this hottie friend of yours has a younger sister?"

Jared laughed and promised he'd ask.

Both Jaclyn and Jared went for runs early Saturday morning. They'd have both run just for the fun of it, but both of them needed to bleed off some excess emotional energy in anticipation of their date. Jared ran five miles while Jaclyn ran six.

By the time he showed up at her place, both of them were still just as excited but neither of them was keyed up. The weather was very chilly early that morning, so Jared grabbed a dark-blue sweater to wear with his jeans and had a light jacket in the Jeep just in case.

When the door opened, Jaclyn smiled and told him how nice he looked, but Jared barely said, "Thank you," as he was looking at her.

"What?" she asked as she invited him in.

"You uh, you look...amazing."

Jaclyn laughed then thanked him, too.

"Sorry. I wasn't laughing because I don't believe you. I'm laughing because I actually thought about wearing a dress."

"No. You uh, you made a really good choice," he replied as he finally looked into her eyes.

She was wearing a very dark-red sweater with black pants, and the way the top hugged her feminine curves had his full attention and even made him think of his roommate. Her hair was down and the way it framed her face made her look even more beautiful. It had a kind of bounce and a sheen to it, and he was having trouble deciding what looked nicer. If that wasn't enough, she was wearing a glossy, dark-red lipstick that matched the color of the ribbed top, and all Jared could do was say, "Wow!"

"You are so sweet!" Jaclyn told him before letting him know she was ready whenever he was.