Chapter 12: Start Over
Now of all the people to run into at City Park on a Sunday afternoon.
"This nice lady was going to help me find you Uncle Paul," Tara announced proudly. "This is Cadence."
"We meet again," he said.
I took a small step back. Those blue eyes. Those same devious blue eyes that had watched me from across the ballroom that night were now standing in front of me in the middle of City Park in broad daylight catching sunlight like they had been designed specifically to make a person uncomfortable. How was this my life?
"Yes," I managed. Articulate as always.
"Thank you for stopping to help my niece. I stepped away to take a call and she just disappeared. My sister and her husband are at the hospital having another baby so I was left in charge of Tara today. I am clearly not the most qualified babysitter."
"It was an honest mistake," I said. "I lost my twin sisters in a store once. Left them playing under a clothes display and did not realize until I was already outside. So please do not feel too bad."
"That actually helps. Thank you."
"Cadence," Tara said, pulling on my arm with the confidence of a child who had already decided we were best friends, "Uncle Paul was taking me for ice cream. Do you want to come?"
I looked between the two of them. Tara hopeful. Paul with that look on his face that told me he already knew what my answer was going to be.
"I should really be heading home. Busy week ahead and I need to prepare."
"Please Cadence please please please." Tara pressed her palms together in full prayer formation.
"Yes Cadence, please," Paul echoed, and had the audacity to make the same face. "It is the least I can do for someone who helped me find my niece. And I think it was fate that we ran into each other again."
"I am not sure this is a good idea."
"I promise not to bite." He made a puppy dog face. Tara immediately copied him. Two sets of pleading eyes.
I had absolutely no defense against that combination.
"Fine. But my car is on the other side of the playground."
"So is ours. We can walk together."
We walked in comfortable silence while Tara provided her own full commentary on every piece of playground equipment, every tree and every person we passed. She was nine years old going on forty five and I loved her immediately.
"How old is she?" I asked Paul quietly.
"Nine going on twenty six," he said.
"She is adorable."
"What about me?" He looked at me with complete seriousness and I must have made a face because he burst out laughing. "You could not even pretend for one second?"
"Tara is significantly more adorable than you."
"That is genuinely cold Cadence."
"Now look at your face," I said, mocking his wounded expression right back at him.
"Oh you have jokes."
"I have plenty. And you are the subject of most of them."
"Take it back. You have five seconds before I come after you."
"You would not dare."
"One."
I took off. Tara took off beside me screaming with laughter. We made it to the cars just ahead of him and she immediately declared the car base and victory ours.
"Uncle Paul we are on base. Nananbooboo you cannot get us."
He bent over catching his breath. "That is not fair. Two against one."
"Stop being a sore loser and let us get ice cream," Tara said, already pulling me by the arm. "Come on Cadence before the chocolate chip mint runs out."
I looked at Paul for backup. He smiled, shrugged and turned away.
"A little help?"
"You ran away from me twice," he said. "You are on your own."
"You are so wrong."
"But I could have been your right."
I chose not to respond to that. Mostly because I did not have a quick enough answer.
The ice cream shop had a short line. Tara placed her order with the confidence of someone who came here regularly and knew exactly what she wanted. We ordered, found a table and sat down.
"Cadence do you have a boyfriend?" Tara asked, spoon already in her ice cream.
"No I do not."
"Well my Uncle Paul is single." Paul nearly inhaled his ice cream. I started laughing before I could stop myself. "Mommy said he is too good looking and too rich not to have a girlfriend. And since you do not have a boyfriend and I like you, he should make you his girlfriend."
Paul looked like he wanted the floor to open and take him directly. "Tara. We do not repeat what adults say. Finish your ice cream so I can take you to the hospital to see your parents."
"Okay Uncle Paul."
We walked out a few minutes later and he held the door open looking genuinely mortified.
"I am so sorry about that. You never know what is going to come out of a child’s mouth."
"It is fine. I have two sisters. I am immune. But now I am curious," I said, because the opening was right there and I was taking it. "Why do you not have a girlfriend? You are handsome, you are clearly successful. Are you into men?"
He stopped walking. "I have to be gay because I do not have a girlfriend?"
"No. But there has to be a reason. And you do pay for company so I am just asking the question."
He was quiet for a moment. "My last girlfriend cheated on me with two of my close friends. She got pregnant by one of them. After that I decided that paying for exactly what I want from exactly who I choose was significantly less complicated than a relationship."
I nodded slowly. That was actually a reasonable answer.
"But any woman with eyes would want to be with you," I said.
"You did not choose me," he said simply. "You chose someone else."
I looked away. He was right. He had been my second choice and after I did not pick him he had not wanted me at all. I felt something about that which I was not ready to name out loud.
"You were my second choice," I said.
And then immediately wanted to disappear because that had come entirely out of my mouth without authorization.
I started walking. He caught my elbow gently.
"I am sorry. I should not have said that either. This is not the time or place. I came on too strongly at the party and if I made you uncomfortable I am genuinely sorry. You are very attractive and sometimes I leave my manners behind when that is the case." He paused. "Can we start over?"
I looked at him. He meant it. I could see that he did.
I smiled. "I am Cadence."
He smiled back and held out his hand. "My name is Paul. Paul Captiville. And it is a genuine pleasure to meet you Cadence."
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