Trivial Pursuit

"It was my pleasure, Ms. Kennedy," he said winking slightly at her.

That evening he texted her and let her know to be ready at 7 o'clock Saturday evening. "Table for two at Canlis at 7:30?"

"Can't wait!" came the immediate reply. "How shall I dress? Formal? Casual?"

"Definitely not formal. Surprise me. Love what you wore Wednesday if that helps."

Kristen's class didn't go to computer lab on Fridays so they didn't see one another but she couldn't help but text him here and there throughout the day. She loved his sense of humor and he managed to make her smile or laugh with every response. The day dragged on forever as did all of Saturday until it was finally time to get ready.

Unlike Hansen, Kristen had very little money saved. She'd just managed to finish paying off her student loans so she'd splurged on the cashmere sweater and didn't have much left to play with. Even so, she found herself at the mall looking for another outfit she hoped he'd like. After a couple hours of looking around she settled on a very pretty charcoal-gray, long-sleeved sweater and a black pencil skirt that fell to about four inches above her knee. She normally dressed very casually but she felt reasonably sure Hansen liked a dressier, more sophisticated look so she was happy to lay out another couple of hundred dollars she didn't have for the outfit. Thank God for credit cards, right?

On her way out, she passed a beauty salon and against her better judgment popped her head in and said, "I'm sure you're booked but is there any chance of getting my hair done?"

The girl said, "As long as you don't want to get it bleached or a perm I think we could fit you in."

Kristen shelled another $50 to have her shoulder-length hair styled in a soft, gentle wave after having it parted on one side and then cut to the proper length.

She'd showered before going just in case she decided to do what she'd promised herself she wouldn't do knowing she was probably going to do it anyway.

She put on her makeup and finished getting dressed then took a look at herself in the mirror. "Well, you like you're ten years older, Kristen," she told herself. "Under normal circumstances, I'd be very unhappy with that, but tonight..."

She looked through her jewelry and thought about wearing the strand of pearls her mother had bought her when she was sixteen but remember Guy saying 'nothing formal.' She set them back and settled on a simple, single-strand silver necklace and a pair of silver earrings. She stepped into a pair of three-inch heels she hadn't worn in a very long time then took one last look and said, "Perfect! I hope."

She laid her purse on top of her coat and sat down to wait. For once, she was ready 15 minutes early, a new record for her. She had to admit she actually felt a little glamorous even though she knew she wasn't wearing anything that fit that description. Between the new outfit and her hair, it was just so upscale from what she normally wore she couldn't help but feel sophisticated and a little bit sexy.

She heard a knock at five till and felt her heart jump thinking he was there early. Without looking in the peephole she opened the door and said, "You're early. I thought Marines were..." She let go of the door handle and froze.

"Michael. What are you doing here? I told you I don't want to see you anymore."

"So you're going on a date already?" he said caustically. "And with some fucking Marine no less? Jesus, Kristen! What the fuck is wrong with you?" he said pushing his way past her.

"You need to leave, Michael," she told him pointing to the door.

He turned to her and said, "Look, I got a little out sorts when, you know... Come on, Kristen. Give me another chance. You know we're good together." He put his hands on her arms and she shrieked.

"Don't touch me!" she warned him.

"Or what? You're gonna call your little soldier boy to come save you?" She was backing up toward the door and Michael was following her. "Look, I got a little...energized that one time. You know I'm not like that."

"Yes, you are. That's exactly what you're like." she said coldly. "And that wasn't the first time, Michael. You scare me when you get like that. Please, just leave, okay?"

She was up against the door with nowhere else to go as he tried to put his arms around her. "You look really hot," he told her.

"Stop it!" she said loudly.

"That's not what you normally say when we're going at it," he said pinning her against the door. "Come on, baby. You know you want me."

"Get off me!" she screamed.

As she tried to push him away, she heard a deep voice say, "Kristen? Are you okay?"

"Guy?" she called out.

"Is that soldier boy?" Michael hissed.

Kristen reached back and turned the doorknob and stepped out of the way.

Guy pushed it open and saw Michael standing there looking at Kristen. "Is there a problem?" he said very calmly.

"No, there's no problem, asshole. I'm Kristen's boyfriend." He looked over at her said, "So now you've got daddy issues, too? Jesus, Kristen. You're a special kind of fucked up."

Guy stepped inside and said, "I think you should go home."

"Oh, you do, do you? Well, who's gonna fuckin' make me, old man?"

He turned to Kristen and asked her, "Do you want him here?"

"No. I want him out. But don't hurt him, okay?" she said, her arms crossed as she watched the drama unfold.

"You heard the lady," Hansen said opening the door and motioning for him to leave.

"I'm not fuckin' done here, fuckface," he said defiantly.

"She says you are," Hansen said very quietly. "Please leave, okay?"

"Fuck off!" he said. "I'm here to see Kristen, not her grandfather, so piss off."

He took a step toward her and Hansen said, "Don't take another step in that direction." His voice was cold but steady.

"Or what?" Michael said. He turned toward Hansen and walked right up to him. He was a good six inches shorter and probably 30 pounds lighter. Michael's lean frame coupled with his long, greasy hair, scruffy beard, and wire-rim glasses and faded army jacket were a real contrast to Hansen's athletic build, closely cropped hair, clean-shaven face, and leather jacket.

"You don't want to find out," Hansen said without emotion.

Without warning, Michael took a swing at Hansen with his right hand. Hansen's left arm instinctively went up deflecting the blow while his own right arm threw a lighting-quick punch to Michael's solar plexus. In less than a second it was done leaving Michael doubled over in pain unable to breath. Hansen grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and basically drug him outside onto the sidewalk. "You might want to sit down and try putting your head between your knees until you can breathe again. That seems to help."

He stepped back inside and Kristen immediately threw her arms around him. "Oh, my God. I was so scared!" she said as she clung to him.

"It's okay," he told her. "He's all talk. He won't bother you again. I promise." Her pulled her away and said, "Are you okay?"

"I think so," she told him. "I'm so sorry, Guy. I had no idea he was..."

"How could you? Cowards never give advanced notice." He put his hands on her shoulders and told her, "Everything's fine, okay?"

She nodded as she tried to calm herself down. "Thank you," she told him.

"I'm assuming that would be your ex? The guy you said you had the um...misunderstanding with?"

Again, she only nodded as Guy looked out to see how Michael was doing. He was holding his stomach and about halfway down the sidewalk. "So you need a few more minutes?" he asked her.

"I think I'm okay," she told him.

He picked up her coat and held it out for her. "Shall we?"

She slid her slender arms in and he laid the coat over her shoulders. "You look amazing, by the way," told her.

She turned around and said, "Oh, thank you. I was so scared I forgot all about what I was wearing." She took a look at her new outfit and said, "So...do you like it?"

"I didn't think you could look nicer than you did on Wednesday, but wow! was I ever wrong," he told her smiling. "You look absolutely beautiful."

Kristen hadn't even noticed what he was wearing and finally took a minute to see. "Speak of looking even nicer looking than the last time—look at you."

He handed her her purse and said, "Thanks. You ready?"

She shook her head and said, "On second thought, maybe not. That really upset me." She looked up at him and asked, "Could you maybe just hold me for a little while?" Her eyes still had fear in them and it moved Hansen deeply.

"Come here," he said holding his arms out. Kristen let him wrap them around her and just laid her head on his shoulder. After a full minute or so had passed he wanted to get her mind off what just happened. He whispered to her, "As much as I like what you're wearing, I really love your hair like this." He stroked it softly as she continued to just lean up against him.

She thanked then put her arms round his neck. After another minute or so she said, "What if you hadn't been here, Guy?"

"I was here," he told her.

"I can't imagine what might have happened. I've never been so afraid in my whole life," she said very quietly.

"We can stay in tonight if you'd like," he told her.

"No. I don't want to stay in." She finally backed away and looked at him again. She stared into his eyes as she told him, "I want to go out tonight. I want to go out...with you."

When she was finally ready, he asked for her keys and locked the door behind them then led her down the sidewalk to his car. "Wow!" she said. "This is...amazing."

He opened her door and said, "When you get seated, I'll tell you the story behind it."

For the next 45 minutes, Hansen shared some of the details of his marriage, the diagnosis, and the promises he'd made. "So this is not only my mid-life crisis, it's the fulfillment of a promise. I'm not a pretentious person, Kristen. I'd be happy driving another more modest car, but I'm tooling around in this thing for a reason and now you know why."

"I've never been in anything this nice before. Talk about glamorous!" she said smiling at him.

"You're far more glamorous than this hunk of metal and plastic. You really look amazing." He looked over at her and said, "Are you feeling any better yet?" he asked.

"Much. Thank you again," she said. She reached over for his hand and said, "Would it be melodramatic to say you're my hero?" He could see she was being very serious so the quip he had ready got shelved.

"Well...maybe. Just a little. But even so, I kind of like the sound of that," he told her sincerely.

Canlis was an oddly-shaped mid-century, but modern looking building overlooking Puget Sound and one of the best restaurants in the city. "This is very formal!" Kristen said when they walked in. "Thank goodness I didn't wear jeans again. You should have told me how nice this place was."

He took her coat and said, "You'd look great no matter what you wore," he told her.

She hooked her arm through his as they were led to a table near the huge glass windows which wrapped around the building. "This has to be crazy expensive," she said with concern.

"Money's only value is in whatever thing it can be exchanged for. Being with you is important to me and if money can provide that then it's more than worth it," he told her with a smile.

She was trying not to stare, but she couldn't help it. He was wearing a very expensive-looking dark suit with a bright-blue, silk tie and white shirt.

"Is everything okay?" he asked as their server brought them each a glass of champagne.

"You are so handsome," she said softly.

"Even without the uniform?" he teased.

"Yes, even without the uniform," she assured him.

They spent the next hour talking about their lives over a wonderfully delicious dinner. Where they grew up, how they decided on their careers, his wife, her boyfriends—good and bad—and what they valued most in a good relationship.

"Trust," he told her. "And integrity."

"That makes sense," she told him. "I'd say...honesty which I suppose fits in with integrity and trust. Something tells me you're about all of those things."

He smiled and asked her, "I've always tried to have those qualities. But I'm more interested in you. What else is important to you, Kristen?"

"Love," she told him. "I know that's a very generic term that takes in a whole lot of things, but feeling loved...and protected...is very important to me."

"Love. Yeah, that really is a very broad word that does encompass a lot of things. Caring, concern, compassion..."

"Intimacy," she said softly.

"Intimacy, yes. Without all of those other qualities, a relationship doesn't stand a chance of being intimate. Physical maybe but not intimate. And there's a world of difference between them."

"Wow. There's something else I've never thought about," she confessed. "I guess I've always known there was a distinction." She paused and looked out over the water for a moment before turning back to him and adding, "It's just that until...very recently, I guess I never really cared."

"You're a very smart woman," he told her.

She sat there looking at the creme brûlée in front of her and then said, "Remember when I said you made me feel like I was 16?" Hansen nodded and she said, "Tonight I feel more...more grown up than I've ever felt in my life. Things that seemed so important suddenly don't seem that way while other things I rarely thought of suddenly are."

"Any idea as to what might be responsible for the change in your outlook?"

"I guess I'd say finding someone who makes me want to be the best person possible makes all the difference."

"I agree," he told her. He reached out for her hand and asked her, "So have you found someone like that?"

"Uh-huh," was all she said at first. "Someone very special."

"What a coincidence," he said in reply. "I've recently found someone myself who's done that very thing for me, too."

She looked up at him and said, "You have?"

"Uh-huh. She's someone very special." He ran his fingers over the top of her hand as he smiled at her.

"She?" Kristen said.

"Uh-huh. She. She's without doubt the most beautiful, most charming, funniest, friendliest, and most interesting woman I've ever known with the possible exception of my late wife," he told her.

"That's pretty amazing because this guy I recently met is just like that, too. He's the only man who's ever been able to make me laugh whenever I'm with him, and he's also very smart, and very handsome and as I just learned, very brave." She opened her hand for him to lay his in it. When he did, she closed hers around it and said while looking right at him, "And I also just learned he makes me feel safe. I guess I could even say he's also my hero."

"He's a very lucky man. I think I might even be a little jealous."

"Really?" she said.

"Sure. I mean, I can't help but wish that guy were me."

"That's funny because I was hoping this wonderful girl you recently met could be me."

They set there holding hands across the table not saying a word and just looked into one another's eyes.

"Guy?" she finally said breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

"Would you ever...could you ever...possibly see yourself falling in love again?"

"I could," he told her.

"Is it even remotely possible it could be with someone...younger than you? Maybe even much younger?"

"Well, since I already have, I suppose it's more than just possible."

She pulled her hand back and put it in her lap and sat there staring down into it.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"You're a man of honor, character, and integrity so that means you wouldn't ever say something to someone unless you really meant it."

"That's true," he replied.

"So did I just hear you say you've already fallen in love with someone?"

"You did," he told her.

"Someone...much younger than you?" she asked him looking up with eyes filling with tears.

"Yes. That's the God's-honest truth, Kristen."

A tear fell from her eye and she fought to keep herself from crying. Hansen got up and moved his chair around next to hers and put his arm around her. "In case you didn't put two and two together, let me be direct." He took her hand and told her, "I love you, Kristen."

Tears streamed down her face as she turned toward him. Her face was slightly contorted from her inability to keep from crying as she choked out the words, "I love you too, Guy. I love you so much!" She lost it as she threw her arms around him and just held him.

Neither of them cared that everyone was looking their way. All that mattered was that they were together holding each other. "Shhh," he said as he stroked her hair.

She was still shaking with emotion as she managed to say, "I'm so happy."

Deciding to try and lighten the mood he said, "Yeah, I can tell."

She sat up and playfully flung her napkin at him. Then she immediately said, "Oh, wait. I need that." Rather than hand it to her, he used it to dab her eyes as she sniffed and tried to get hold of herself.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she told him finally getting control of her breathing. She put her hand on his face and said, "Will you tell me that again?"

He sat the napkin down and said very seriously, "That I love you or that you look like a raccoon now?"

She burst out laughing and threw her hands over her mouth aware that everyone was staring at them. Hansen looked around and said, "It's okay everyone. I just told this beautiful woman I love her and well, you can see the effect it had on her."

No one laughed until she slid out of her chair and onto his lap. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately as the entire place burst into applause.

Kristen came up for air and said, "Oh, my God, this is the happiest day of my life. I love you so much!" before kissing him one more time.

Hansen had his arms around her small waist and said, "I should probably get the check, huh?"

"That sounds like a very good idea," she told him. Before he could wave to their server she said, "You know what also sounds like a wonderful idea?"

"I have several notions," he told her.

"I haven't seen your place yet," she said running her hand along his cheek.

"We can change that," he let her know.

"And if I have enough of the qualities you need to want to be...intimate with me, I'd very much like to see one room in your house in particular tonight."

"I'd like that very much," he told her. "Check please?" he said as their server walked by.

Neither of them spoke on the drive back to Auburn. They just held hands as Hansen drove in silence.

He pulled into the driveway just after 9 o'clock and opened the two-car garage and pulled in. He walked around to open her door and helped her out. She put her arms around him and said, "Thank you for dinner," then kissed him softly.

"My pleasure," he told her as he took her hand and led her inside.

"Wow! I thought you said you had a modest little home. This is beautiful."

"Can I tell you a secret?" he said as he put his arms around her.

"Uh-huh," she said smiling back at him.

"After I asked you out, I called a cleaning crew and a staging company and had them spend all day yesterday in here trying to make this house look like a home."

"You did?" she asked sweetly. "For me?"

"Well, just in case."

"Just in case I came home with you?" she teased.

"Uh-huh. Just in I lost my mind or something and asked you to come home with me."

She spun around and put her hands on his chest and said playfully, 'Shut up!"

She looked around then said seriously, "I'm very impressed. But this is all just stuff. What I'm most impressed with is the man who lives here."

"You are?" he asked.

"Uh-huh. I've fallen crazy in love with him and I find myself wanting to be with him all the time now."

"Interesting. I've heard he feels the same way about you. What do you say we skip the tour of the rest of the house for now? There's one room in particular I think you'll really like." He held out his hand and led her to the one place she most wanted to go.