Lunch at Steamers

On Friday I went to Heidi’s office and called her from the receptionist's desk. She came down – looking stunning – she has long flowing blonde hair and a wonderful bronze tan. I smiled at her and told her how lovely she looked. I walked her to my truck parked in the visitor lot. I opened the door for her, then ran around to my side.

“So, where are we going?” I had asked her to pick out a place for lunch near her office - I don't know the area well.

“Steamers,down in Los Gatos. It’s a great seafood place.” My stomach churned. That was the scene of the crime. It is the place where Tim and Lynn dined that fateful night that she went off and slept with him. This was the place where my heartache was born. “Great, let’s go” I said – trying not to sound as if I was saying it through gritted teeth.

Lunch was a blur. All I could think about was Lynn and Tim being there. I wondered where they sat, what they talked about. Did she think about me? Did he go there planning to bed her or did she seduce him? Did they gaze into each other’s eyes and fall so completely in love that they could do nothing else? I completely lost my appetite. I tried as hard as I could to force down some fish – stirring the remains on my plate, trying to look like nothing was wrong. I did everything that I could to try to be charming – but I doubt it was working. Oh well, this is probably for the best. It is clear to me that dating someone else is probably not a good idea. It wouldn’t be fair to Heidi.

“So, what’s the story with you and Lynn?” Heidi said during a lull in the conversation.

“Oh, we’re good friends. I’ve known her since college.”

“You seem closer to me, more intimate.”

“Well, we dated for a while. She had just broken up with her live-in boyfriend and before she started dating Tim.”

“Oh”, she laughed knowingly. “You were (she pronounced it ‘ver’) the rebound guy.” She has an amazing voice and an indescribable accent, kind of a Swedish/French/German – European mixed up thing.

“What do you mean ‘rebound’ guy?” Is there some dating manual that I never got? Everyone seems to know these things but me.

“You know, when you get out of a long term relationship sometimes you pick up a convenient person to take your mind off things. Until you get better. Probably a bad thing to do, but sometimes we need it.” I’m not sure who the ‘we’ was.

“Well, we still talk from time to time.”

“But you’re not as close as you used to be?”

“No, we’re not. She's with Tim” I was probably letting too much sadness show.

“So, I don’t understand.” She paused, deciding whether to go on, “Lynn dumped you for Tim? Are you sure this is correct?”

“What do you mean?”

“How could anyone pick Tim over you? Is she stupid?”

I was starting to really like this girl. “I can’t tell you why she did that. You’ll need to ask her. He is kind of her type – she likes the talk dark and handsome kind.”

She looked at me and deadpanned “OK, so he’s tall, but why else did she pick him?”

I laughed. I enjoyed the rest of lunch. I dropped her back at her office. She said she had a wonderful time. I asked her out to a concert on Sunday night. She immediately accepted.