MIXED MARRIAGE
“I met a guy,” Ella said. “A really great guy.”
“Did you now?” Elizabeth said. “That’s news. It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?”
“Yes it has. But the moment we were introduced, it just felt right. Instant connection.”
“What’s his name?”
“Max.”
“And how did you meet Max?”
“I met him at a friend’s house. We clicked immediately, we talked for hours that first night.”
“And when was this?”
“A week-and-a-half ago. Then the next day he called to ask me out and we talked for a few more hours. Everyday since. I’ve never felt so close to someone this fast. It seems so natural, it’s scary.”
Elizabeth had been Ella’s therapist for a number of years. The sessions began after Ella lost her mother, to whom she was very close, as a teenager. The sessions helped her through her grief. Then several years later her father got remarried to a much younger woman, which was another major adjustment, and then less than two years after that he dropped dead of a heart attack. Ella had leaned on Elizabeth through all of it.
“So,” Elizabeth continued. “Go on.”
“We’ve talked constantly. I’ve never been able to talk to a man like this. It’s like a drug, something I didn’t think was possible. We’ve only had one real date since we first met.”
“So it was a good date?”
“Oh yes, very good.”
“How so?”
“I went to bed with him. We fucked our brains out.”
“Wow, Ella, that’s a surprise. That was pretty quick, wasn’t it?”
“I know. We didn’t plan on it. It kind of happened by accident. We were having a good time, it felt natural, we just went with it.”
“Have you talked to Hannah about this?”
“Yes, I saw her Saturday night. Told her everything. She’s cool.”
“She’s cool? You’re sure about that?”
“Yeah, we knew this time would come at some point. She’s going to meet him this weekend.”
—-
Max and Ella met at a party at the home of a mutual friend. When they were introduced and their eyes first met, things changed for both of them, and they both sensed it. Their reactors ignited, their rods heated up and the chain reaction was underway.
Ella had the look Max was often drawn to: Shoulder-length brown bob surrounding her high cheekbones, smooth creamy face, and a lean, toned body. And she felt the same, was immediately attracted to him, his blond hair, warm smile and tall, athletic frame.
But it was their conversation that was the glue. They spent the rest of the party together, talking for several hours about anything and everything, in a province of their own making, ignoring the guests coming and going around them, until the party started breaking up. Max walked Ella to her car. They talked another twenty minutes standing there, exchanged phone numbers. He said he’d call her the next day and kissed her goodnight. They felt like they’d found magic in a bottle.
When Max called her, the stream-of-consciousness conversation picked up right where it had left off. They talked for two hours before he asked her out to dinner for Saturday night. Ella said she would love to, but would Friday be okay instead? She and her stepmother had tickets to the theater Saturday night. They agreed that Friday would be fine.