Valentine's Day Eve

Which brings me to lovely Toni. I met Toni at one of the weddings I was working. She was the bride's maid of honor and had been flirting with me most of the night.

"How about taking a couple of shots of me for my Facebook page," she asked, in a sexy kind of way. I took more than a couple, what guy wouldn't. I adjusted them in one of my glamour shot software programs and by the time I was done she looked good—hell, she looked perfect!

"Steve, these pictures are fabulous, I never knew I looked this good."

I was going to say, 'you really don't,' but momma didn't raise a fool. We started off with drinks after work, which led to dinner and a movie. She was still in college and with classes at night, along with homework on the weekends, she too, was busy many nights.

We didn't become exclusive for almost four months. We were just two individuals who got together and had fun. When she wanted more pictures taken I was happy to oblige. And when she pulled me into her bedroom and stripped naked I finally found out just what type of pictures she wanted.

It wasn't porn but they were risqué, to say the least. Almost everything was covered, and what wasn't looked great. We went through a whole bottle of wine taking those pictures. After I assured her that I would clean them up, taking away any flaws I could find, she decided to thank me properly. Wow! Is all I can say.

Maybe because we were a tad bit drunk, or just maybe in reality she was that kinky; whatever it was, that night set a new standard for excellence. By morning I was the one begging for her to stop. She had drained me of every ounce of bodily fluid.

"Just once more," she begged, it was four thirty in the morning. I knew there wasn't a chance in hell I could get it up again, and we were almost out of the flavored KY lotion we had opened up shortly after midnight. We'd finished off the chocolate but there was a little bit left of the strawberry. I let what was left drip on her puffy clit and slit.

I'm not sure if I was eating KY, her bodily fluids, or some of my own semen. Whatever was coating my tongue, I didn't care. I just wanted to get her off and go back to sleep. After that night we were a couple in every sense of the word. I still kept it slow, but did try to cut back on my bookings. I wasn't going to screw it up again.

June and July I was swamped with summer weddings, thankfully by the fall they'd tapered down. Toni had started to get a little annoyed with my schedule. The holidays did not go that well for us. It seems I did a few too many Christmas parties for her liking. I probably shouldn't have, but was talked into them by people I'd done previous work for. I was getting a lot of word of mouth business, and for once I could see myself clear to upgrade my equipment.

"No, No, No!" she yelled when I gave her my schedule for January and February. "You've booked almost every weekend with something, how about me?"

"Hon, we've got Friday nights and often times Sunday," I tried to explain to her, but she wasn't hearing it.

"Saturday is when all my friends get together not Sunday. Sunday is a recovery day and the day I spend on homework, and don't even think about scheduling anything for the weekend of February twelfth. Nothing! Do you understand?" She wasn't a happy camper at this point.

"Don't worry, we'll be at Sherry's wedding together, I promise." All I can say is so much for promises.

Bill Hipple owned a large manufacturing and distribution company that employed over three hundred people. I had done his daughter's wedding a year ago and he had been impressed with my work. It all went to shit when he called to say he had a good friend getting married, and he wanted me to take the pictures, I really did try to say no. I guess a man like Bill doesn't like to be told no, especially when telling him no can have financial repercussions.

"Bill, I've already got a commitment for that date." I tried to explain to him.

"Break it and I'll pay the cancellation fee if there is any. Steve, there are a million photographers out there, they'll have no problem finding a replacement," I didn't tell him it wasn't a job. And when I started to say no again, he played his power card. "Look, Steve, I know a lot of people in this town, and I'd hate to tell everyone that you're unreliable. Wouldn't you rather me saying you're the best wedding photographer around? And with me recommending you to my employees, can you imagine the potential business? I know you and I will be able to work something out, I'm sure of it." And once again all I could think, like I had a choice?

"But Toni, I'll meet you there after I'm done." I pleaded with her. It was too late. I'd broken my word, which I had, and for Toni that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I had put my second job in front of her again, and she wasn't going to stand for it anymore.

So I read her e-mail for the fourth time and tried to call her—she wouldn't take my calls. She didn't tell me to fuck-off, but her words had the same effect. Almost everything she'd written was true, and if it weren't for the fact that I wanted to do photography full time I probably would have sucked it up and begged her to take me back at any cost, but I didn't. I just stopped dating completely and put my work first.

I questioned myself every time I saw the bride and groom kiss at a wedding, or when I watched couples smile at one another while on the dance floor. Was I lonely? Yes, but I was building a business and had to make sacrifices, right? For the first time in my life, photography became a job.

The weirdness started a month after Toni and I broke up. I was reviewing the pictures and noticed a girl who didn't look like she belonged there. She was dressed nicely but somehow she just didn't fit in. I couldn't put my finger on it, exactly, but there was there something about her that perplexed me. I never got a good picture of her and the ones she was in I had to crop her out. But hell, I didn't know her from Adam and probably would never see her again. How wrong I was.

At the next couple of wedding I was sure I saw her again, but she looked different each time. Blonde hair went to red and finally brown. The outfits were always similar but different, fancy but never ostentatious. If I hadn't taken the time to go back and restudy the other wedding proofs, I would have totally overlooked her. She wasn't tall and hot looking, but not bad looking either. She was non-descript, somewhat ordinary, but at the same time not ordinary. Strangely, something about her looked familiar but I just couldn't place the face. On top of all that, I had yet to get a good clear picture of her. Every one of them were partial pictures of her talking to another girl, sitting at a table, or walking away.

I didn't notice her at any of the next couple of weddings. I just figured she, and maybe a couple of her friends, were crashing the weddings for free drinks, food, and a good time.

"Are you Steve?" A tall, good-looking brunette asked me while I was taking a shot of the bride and groom dancing.

"Yes, I'm Steve," I answered, a little hesitantly not knowing what was coming next.

"My name is Judy, and this may sound a little crazy, but your ex-girlfriend thinks that you and I would be a perfect match." I was more than a little taken back by that statement.

"Excuse me, who said you and I would be a perfect match?"

"Your old girlfriend. She said that you and she were no longer together, but you were the greatest guy in the world and would be a perfect match for me." I looked around at the crowd around us.

"All right, who put you up to this? Was it Tom?" He was a friend of mine who was a big practical joker.

"Steve, she just said that she was an old girlfriend of yours. Look, she was the one that came up to me. I never met her before but somehow she knew I had broken up with my boyfriend a couple of months ago, and said you'd be the perfect guy for me." The girl was now smiling at me.

"Judy, isn't it?" she nodded. "Right now I'm working but maybe later we can talk."

"Look, my ride is leaving but here is my phone number." She handed me a cocktail napkin. "Call me if you're interested, if not, it'll be your loss." She smiled once more and was gone.

I had no idea who told her we would be a great fit and needless to say I was somewhat freaked out. But then it started happening over and over again. I was now hit on at every event I photographed. It usually happened towards the end of the night, and it was always the same. The girl had just broken up with her boyfriend, been recently divorced, or some similar story. A girl would approach her out the blue and say she knew the perfect man for her. They would talk and she would always introduce herself as my ex-girlfriend. More than one would tell me that the girl said she would take me back in a heartbeat if she could.

The only thing that didn't add up was the description of the girl. She was always about the same height, around five feet four inches, but that was the only similarity. Her hair color and length were always different, and her outfits were a different color, length, and style, but always on the slightly conservative side. It was starting to freak me out more and more. The varied descriptions would fit most of the girls I had dated in the last couple of years, but none of them had been unhappy about dumping me, of that I was sure.

From that day forth I started watching the guests. I kept one eye on the bride and groom and the other on everyone else. I took a lot more crowd pictures hoping to see one of my old girlfriends, but never did. Girls were still coming up and introducing themselves but it tapered off a bit over the next month or so. I did, however, take a couple of them up on their invitation but nothing came of those dates. Then I got a break.

I was reviewing pictures I had recently taken at a wedding and saw her again, or what looked like her. It wasn't the greatest picture in the world, but it showed that same girl talking to another girl at one of the tables.

I blew up the picture as big as I could before it got too grainy. She was slim, had medium length strawberry blonde hair, and wore glasses. I couldn't tell her height since they were both sitting down, but I felt like I finally had my first lead.

"I'm almost done with your pictures," I told the bride, showing her some of my better proofs. "There is a girl in one of the pictures that I think I went to high school with. Would you be able to tell me her name?" She looked at the picture for a minute and with no sign of recognition on her face, she passed it over to her new husband. He shook his head; they didn't have a clue to who she was either.

"Steve, we can't help you. Whoever she is, she wasn't on the guest list. Maybe she works at the hotel where we had the reception. Sorry, we couldn't help you, but we don't know her." They did, however, say the photographs looked beautiful and couldn't wait to get the final set.

Most of the weddings I did were held at one of four hotels. Photograph in hand, I hit each one trying to get a match. I struck out at each place. Okay, so the photograph wasn't the best quality, and I was informed at each place that anyone working for the hotel was required to be in uniform at all times, I was not going to let this drop. Someone was now stalking me and I needed to know who it was.

Do you know what it is like calling your last four girlfriends and asking each if they are stalking you? Well, I didn't come right out and ask them that exactly, I more or less wanted to know how they were doing. They were all a little skeptical at first, but when I sounded genuinely interested in them, they finally opened up.

All, and I repeat, all had new boyfriends. They may not have been totally happy in their new situation, but not a single one wanted to go out with me again when I asked. They gave the same reason they had when they dumped me when I told them I was still taking pictures. They all wished me well, but I didn't feel any of them really meant it. I was stumped.

So began my quest to find out who the mystery girl was, and what she was after. If I kept one eye on the rest of the bridal crowd fifty percent of the time before, now every bit of my down time was spent scanning the crowd. It was quiet for about a month and a half and then it started again with earnest. I had begun to let my guard down, thinking she had left or given up—how wrong I was.

"Are you Steve?" the girl asked me while I was grabbing a bite to eat.

"Let me guess, my ex-girlfriend said I would be a good catch for you, am I right?" Her beautiful smile went first to a frown, quickly followed by a flash of anger.

"Are the two of you playing some kind game with me? You are really sick, you know that?" She was visibly upset and wasn't shy about telling me what she thought about the two of us.

"Ms?" I inquired, trying to defuse the situation. More than a few people started looking our way and I did not want to cause a scene.

"Debbie, Debbie Hall. But that's right, you and your ex know all about me," she said sarcastically.

"Debbie, please sit. I'll try to explain what's going on, if I can."

She didn't believe me at first. I think she thought she was being made the brunt of a sick joke, as she put it. I assured her that I didn't have a clue as to who the girl who set her up was. I told her I'd give anything to find out who was behind it.

"What did she look like?"

"She was about five foot three or four, medium length blonde hair, and I guess she was cute if you like blondes." She smiled shyly while slightly tossing her mane of beautiful chestnut brown hair.

"Did she wear glasses?"

"No, but maybe she had on contacts?"

I asked what she was wearing and if there was anything memorable about her that might help me.

"Nothing, other than she is head over heels in love with you."

"You're kidding, right?" was my quick reply.

"Look, I'm a girl, and I can tell when someone is into a guy and believe me when I tell you, this girl has some real feelings for you. Just the way she said your name, it was like something out of one of those damn romance novels. I am completely baffled as to why she'd want to fix me up with you, but you really should get back with her. I don't know what she did or what happened to make the two of you break up, but if it was something she did, and if I were you, I'd forgive in a heartbeat. I think that girl would walk on fire to get you back."

"Debbie, I don't have a clue who this girl is. I called my past girlfriends and none of them want anything do with me."

"Did you ever think it might be someone from where you work?" That thought had never crossed my mind. "Maybe in her warped mind the two of you aren't meant to be together, and she's out there trying to play matchmaker?" She could be right.

Feeling a bit flustered I looked at Debbie. "I'm very sorry that you got drawn into my ongoing nightmare. If you don't mind, please don't say anything to the bride or groom. I need these gigs and not many people would hire me knowing that their photographer was being stalked."

"Don't worry, I won't say a word." She smiled at me again. "Don't look now, but I think the bride is looking for you." I had spent too much time talking to Debbie and not enough taking pictures. It was time to go back to work. I was happy when the night ended.

For the next month I watched every female I worked with. It had been pretty quiet lately at the events I was photographing, but this time I wasn't going to let my guard down, not even for a minute.

"Well, did you find your elusive ex-girlfriend?" Debbie asked when she snuck up on me at the Hartley wedding.

"Hi Debbie," I said, taking a quick look around the crowd. "Please don't tell me she sent you back over to see me again?"

"No such luck. I'm here working, and no, I haven't seen her since that night."

"Working, here?" I looked a little confused.

"I'm a wedding planner. I do upwards of thirty wedding a year."

"But I've never seen you at any wedding I've ever worked."

Debbie elaborated on her job. "I like to stay in the background and most times I'm walking around making sure everything is going right. Up until last year I had my husband do the floor work, but now I do all the planning and follow-up, making sure everyone is doing what I'm paying them to do. It gets a little crazy at times."

"Where's your husband tonight?" Her eyes got wide.

"He was killed in a car accident at the beginning of last year. He was running late to a wedding and let's just say he didn't make it. That's why I was a little upset with you last time. I thought the two of you were playing some sick joke on me."

"Debbie, I'd never do something so low."

"I know that now, but at the time it brought back a lot of hurt and memories." I could tell that sharing this with me left Debbie feeling a little emotionally bereft. I tried to get her back on even ground.

"Well, I haven't been approached by any young ladies since that night either. Maybe your outburst scared her off."

"Steve, the way that girl felt about you, there is no way in hell she was going to give up. Maybe she's watching us both at this very minute." That statement made me do a quick three-sixty. Hastily she added, "See what I mean, she'd got you spooked too." We both made a pact to watch out for my phantom girlfriend. Then it got way too crazy for even me.

We saw each other at a few more functions. She finally told me that she had seen me at some of the weddings she'd worked in the past but that she was busy and not looking to meet anyone new.

A month later we were both working the same wedding at the Hilton. We'd become somewhat friendly, but during the actual reception neither one of us really had much time to talk.

"She's quite a woman you know that, don't you?" I heard the guy standing next to me say while I scanned the crowd looking through my camera.

He was tall, pretty good looking, and wearing a tux. Thinking he was one of the groom's men I made sure to be nice.

"Which one is quite a woman?" I asked.

"That girl you were talking to, you know, the wedding planner. I know for a fact that she likes you a lot." I thought this was another setup and looked around for my elusive ex-girlfriend.

"Did she tell you that?"

"Didn't have to, her body language says it all. Haven't you ever noticed that she plays with her hair or shifts her weight from one foot to the other when she talks to you? It's a dead give away."

"Well, we're just friend, that's all."

"Too bad, she's one special lady. I'm going to be keeping my eye on her." With that he walked away. Thinking back I should have taken his picture. Instead, deep in thought, I slowly walked over to the bartender and got a beer. This was getting way too crazy.

Debbie must have snuck out early because I never saw her after that. I had thought about mentioning this little interaction to her, but reconsidered. No use having her think someone was stalking her now, too

We both worked a wedding the week before Memorial Day. It was festive and I was having a great time. I was done taking pictures and with two glasses of wine in hand I went looking for Debbie. I found her on the far side of the dance floor.

"A little beverage for my lady," I said, with a bow. She laughed taking the glass from me. "Nice wedding, isn't it?"

"It really is," she said, sipping on her glass of wine. At that point the band announced it was their last song of the night. I looked at her.

"Would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to." With that, I put our glasses down and pulled her onto the dance floor.

Okay, I'm not too nimble on my feet, but I didn't step on her toes once through the entire song. We moved in time with one another. I wasn't happy when the song ended because I was still holding on to her and enjoying it.