Diary of a Single Woman

January 22

Dear Diary,

It’s been a week since I heard from Maddi. I have tried texting, face-timing, and calling each with no avail to connecting with her. Am I concerned? Hmmm, let’s see. I started having difficulty staying focused on work, so of course I’m concerned. There was just something that didn’t sit right with me in our last conversation. John’s behavior was a resonating enigma in my conscience. I wish I had more of an opportunity to build a better connection with John. In my time getting to know him, I felt he was warm hearted and chivalrous, but his perception was based on my first impression of him. I started to think back to the day I met him for the first time.

July 2016 Summer

“I’m telling you, we have been on three dates so far, this guy is perfect. In fact, he’s so perfect, Kathy, you better not even think about trying to steal him from me,” Maddi explained with great excitement over the phone as she was face-timing me.

We were planning to go to the summer fair and she had taken it upon herself to invite her newest love interest to join our party. It was supposed to be a girl’s night out event, but Christine and Stacy could not make it, leaving only Maddi, Michelle, and myself going. Since Maddi seemed simply infatuated over her latest beau, we decided to entertain her wishes and allow him to come.

I glanced over to Maddi’s face displaying from my phone, half in disbelief at her statement. “Sis, have you not been paying attention to my track record? Apparently, I still can’t get myself to even touch a man, let alone try to steal one from another woman. Where did you meet this guy anyway?”

“Funny you should ask.” When Maddi begins with that statement, you know it is connected with her family. Maddi’s family is deeply involved with politics. They are not part of the state legislature, but they usually end up going to fancy campaign parties. As a results, Maddi’s family knows a large amount of lawyers and local politicians. “I was actually introduced to him through one of my father’s campaign parties.”

“Why am I not surprised,” I retorted while praising my skills of deduction.

“Kathy, you really should come to one of these parties. I can almost guarantee you will meet someone fabulous.” Maddi joked.

I rolled my eyes. “No thanks.”

“But he will have money,” she sang in a feeble attempt to sway me to her rationalization. “Remember, Lawyer.”

“Right, that’s sounds like a great plan until he decides to sue me for hitting him. Again, what’s my track record for dating?” Maddi knew from our shared college experience I had very little dates with men, even though invitations to dates piled up like old newspapers.

My dates always followed the same pattern. Once I agreed to the date, the unsuspecting male would arrive to take me out to a dining location of his choice. We would sit around the table, falling deep into conversations about our hobbies, interests, and a little of each other’s history. The male victim would continue every attempt to remain entertaining, hoping it would lead to another amorous encounter in the future. After an evening of tranquility, he would nervously begin spewing various compliments and other anecdotes to lure me into his web of romance. I could sense the change in the atmosphere, like a sun rising slowly in the morning sky. His body moving closer and closer towards me; our hands playfully bumping the other. When he felt the time was right, his neck would amorously careen towards me. The tell tale spark in his irises displaying his intent. His head slowly moves in. Instead of interlocking with his expected pair of gentle lips, he connects with the soft swift sting from the palm of my hand against his cheek. Perplexed by the reaction, he jerks back with stars spinning around his head and a flurry of apologies flooding his ears. How could Maddi ever forget these unforgettable stories of my dating follies?

“Alright, let me tell you about John.” Maddi continued sharing all the details about this mysterious gent. According to her, he has cute dimples when he smiles, making his childish feature absolutely irresistible as it complements his more mature demeanor. His lustrous hazel brown eyes provide a warm comfortable feeling. His towering height feels like a protective wall, providing a sense of security. Throughout her monologue of his physical features, she seemed to glaze over his personality.

“Maddi, I know he may seem like everything you want on the outside, but how is his personality? Looks aren’t everything, you know.” I interrupt.

“Girl, he’s kind and thoughtful. He loves listening to me and my stories. You’ll see, tonight.” She insisted.

I sigh. When will a person’s inside trump the sweetness of visual attraction? “I guess we’ll have to determine ourselves when we do, now won’t we.”

“Great, I’ll see you and Michelle tonight,” Maddi smiled and then disconnected.

I was still concerned about Maddi. I wish she had look beyond the the fact of his finances, career, and looks in order to focus more on who he was. I decided I would tell her my thoughts, when I had the chance.

As we entered the early evening hours, Michelle and I met at the entrance of the fair. Michelle was dressed in her usual, black T-shirt complemented with black shorts, fishnet tights, and boots that she probably picked up from Hot Topic. Recently, she had blue streak highlights added to her long straight hair, but she maintained her goth inspired make-up style of lighter foundation, heavy black eyeliner, and rose red lips.

“Maddi’s coming soon, right?” She said, looking at her phone again. Michelle liked being punctual and it would often annoy her when Maddi came late to our meet ups. Furthermore, Michelle still thought it was going to be a girl’s night. I knew once she discovered John, there would be friction within the group instantly.

I cleared my throat, “about Maddi.”

“What is it this time?” I could tell she was already expecting the next line.

“Yeah, she’s bringing her boyfriend.”

“Another one? That girl goes through men like water! Where does she meet these half-wits?”

“Usually Tinder, of course, but this one’s different. He’s a lawyer. According to her, he’s distinguished,” I exaggerated.

“A lawyer, huh? Sounds like she’s planning a dating upgrade,” Michelle claims. “That’s an improvement.” She begins to fidget uneasily at the thought of a man being with us.

“Tell me about it. You know Maddi though, she really likes men. I wish I had her enthusiasm for dating them.” I share, being half serious in my delivery of the line.

“Wait, you still slapping the competition away?”

I chuckle. “Yep, giving out slaps since 2006! It’s a mystery. I wish I knew why.” I honestly did wonder about my reaction to romance. Here I am trying to figure out Maddi and her dating adventures when I should by focused on my own life.

“Well,” Michelle whispers, “Maybe you’re—”

Maddi chimes in with an elongated, “hey,” in her highest pitch. She walks over with her arms linked to John’s as both are wearing casual clothes, fit for the evening at the fair. She was spot on about his height. He was a little shy of reaching “giant” classification.

“Hey, girl!” I responded. “Well, this is quite the catch you brought today.”

“Michelle, Kathy, this is John! John, the girls,” Maddi introduced. After sharing customary greetings, we all headed into the fair grounds. Unbeknownst to John, he was about to be silently scrutinized, and it was time for test number 1: money.

We walked up to the ticket booth to purchase our tickets. Michelle and I were ready to pay for our tickets, but Maddi and John stealthily positioned themselves ahead of us. When we reached the booth, John nonchalantly pays for $200 worth of ride tickets, leaving me secretly impressed.

We make our way to the rides and once we become dizzy enough to call it quits, the girls and I gather at a table in a large tent with live music playing in the background with the singer attempting to entertain by covering popular hit songs. Shortly after sitting, John appears with various types of food he purchased. It was time to initiate scrutinization phase two: conversation.

“I love riding the zipper. I could ride it all night!” Maddi exclaims with sparkles bursting from her eyes.

“Yeah, until you puke!” Michelle offers snidely. “Let’s not forget Summer 2013.”

“Oh, what happened?” John interrupts displaying genuine interest for the story.

Michelle, still skeptical about John, begins, “well, Maddi wanted to try for a world’s record of riding the Zipper. We were against the idea because a) it would cost a lot of money and b) we didn’t believe Maddi had the stomach for it. Long story short, we were right about the stomach. They had to shut down the ride for the night in order to clean it.” We erupted into hysterical laughter. John must have been able to visualize it strongly based on how hard he was laughing as well.

John, still bursting with laughter, adds, “maybe she wanted to expel other riders away?”

I chime in, “are you trying to regurgitate some puns?”

“I’m only trying to heave joy to our outing,” he returns.

“Dude, you gagging out some bad ones,” I respond.

“You think you can hurl a better pun than me?” It starts to become a pun war between the two of us. Michelle and Maddi are enjoying the battle like it is an improv stand up comedy show. Of course, we finally subside with me being victorious in the battle.

As we continue to stuff our faces with the fat attracting fair food, John chimes in every now and then during our conversations. He would drop a line or two to show he was either listening or keeping up with our topics of discussion regardless of how random it was. I noticed how his comments failed to have much substances or delivered any thought provoking points, it seemed more shallow responses than anything else. Perhaps I was overthinking it I concluded and returned to enjoying the evening.

Once we finish eating, we decide to end the night with playing games. John turns into a cash pez dispenser, paying for every game until we finally win a giant stuffed animal. Michelle and I watch John and Maddi enact the perfect couple routine: holding hands, light kisses, whispers, blushes and more. Maddi basks in the attention John is providing.

18 months after our night at the fair, the marriage ceremony cements John and Maddi’s love for each other. Within those short months, Maddi was swamped with wedding plans, work, and other activities that it left no opportunity to have a heart to heart regarding my concerns with John. It also kept time for me to meet John and learn more about him obsolete. I was forced to trust Maddi’s decision to marry him. I sat at the reception feeling relieved when I watched the gleaming smile on her face when she danced with John. He held her as if she were precious glass statue. In the end I felt they would have a successful marriage…

Present Day

…Or so I thought, snapping back to the present. What did I miss? Maybe I was so wrapped up in the hype of the fair and Maddi dating, I overlooked other signs of who John was? Aside from the impromptu pun battle, was he really listening to our conversations, or was it an act in order to conceal his true personality? Perhaps John was more of a dating magician than I realized, distracting me and the girls with his money and bad puns, while keeping his true identity under the wraps.

My last face-time with Maddi still continued to haunt me. I could sense there was more going on between in her relationship than what I was told. I needed to know more. I needed to be there for her, but I didn’t know how I could do that without being intrusive. What if I were wrong? I would have built all this accusation and in the end it could cost me my dearest friend, Maddi. However, if I were right, then…time was fleeting for me to take action.

I’m still at a lost of what I should do? I need more time and evidence to figure out which direction to focus on next. For now, I am going to end here to sleep on it. Maybe something will come to me soon.

Note from Author.

Thank you all the readers of this mini-series, and to any new readers. As I continue moving forward with Kathy and her adventures, I have decided it would be helpful to have a little table of contents, especially since future entries of her diary will refer back to other entries. I have created a link sheet for your convenience. Please feel free to go back and revisit past entries to help you stay fresh on Kathy. Table of Contents