Love Triangle 1

"Congratulate me," Luis said as he sauntered through the front door. "I got a job!"

"Oh, honey, that's wonderful!" Veronica walked from the bedroom into the den. "Where is it?"

"That new ice cream parlor that just opened up a couple of blocks from here. They want me to paint pictures of cows on the walls inside."

"That's all? And then what?"

Luis shrugged. "Whatever."

Veronica sighed with frustration. "I'm going to the store. We need milk and eggs."

She was standing in the check-out line when she heard it. "Veronica Ganz doesn't wear pants."

"Why, yes I..." Suddenly she remembered and turned around to see him standing there grinning at her. "Peter Wedemeyer!"

"Hey!" He reached to embrace her. "How are you? It's been ages, hasn't it?"

"Forever," Veronica agreed. She and Peter had started out as enemies. After learning that she often bullied other classmates, Peter had tormented her with his teasing, always clever enough to escape her wrathful vengeance, until in the end he and two of his friends had ganged up on her and beat her up. Later he'd felt remorse for his actions and had gone to her and apologized, and she'd forgiven him and they'd become good friends.

That had been in junior high. Once high school had started, they'd slowly drifted apart and gone their separate ways. Peter had gone away to college, and Veronica hadn't seen him since then. After four years, she assumed he'd moved on with his life, never dreaming that she'd one day encounter him again in the neighborhood grocery store.

"So what are you doing now?" asked Peter.

"Dental assistant," Veronica told him. "You?"

"Just got my bachelor's degree in accounting," he replied. "Came back to visit the old neighborhood and see what it's like now before starting my serious job searching."

Their purchases completed, they left the store and began to walk along the sidewalk.

"So do you still live with your mom, or do you have your own place now?" asked Peter.

"My own place," said Veronica.

"Great!" said Peter. "Maybe I could come by sometime."

"Maybe," Veronica said vaguely. She simply couldn't think of a way to bring up the subject of Luis with him.

It had taken Peter a moment to recognize her when he'd first seen her again, but once he had, he'd been overwhelmed by how beautiful she'd become. The once too-tall, awkward adolescent had blossomed into a stunning young woman with curves in all the right places. He wondered whether she was involved with anyone but simply couldn't get up the nerve to ask her.

"So in which direction do you live?" he asked at the corner.

"Up that way." Veronica nodded in the direction of her apartment.

"I'm headed that way." Peter tilted his head in the opposite direction. "Well, it was great to see you again, Veronica. Can I call you sometime?"

"It would be better if I called you," said Veronica. "You see...there's this guy named Luis, and I'm engaged to him."

"Oh." Peter felt his heart plummet. Well, I couldn't really have expected her to still be available after all this time, could I have? "Well, take care, Veronica, and maybe I'll see you around again sometime."

"I hope so," Veronica replied. She'd seen how disappointed he'd looked upon the news of her engagement and felt bad for him. She'd also assumed that he'd moved on with his life and had no idea he'd actually been carrying a torch for her all these years. She'd thought they'd both pretty much outgrown their innocent adolescent camaraderie.

She returned home and put the groceries away, noticing that Luis was asleep in the recliner in front of the television. Figures. She turned the television off and straightened up a bit around the apartment before starting dinner.

She couldn't get Peter off her mind for the rest of the evening.

As badly as he'd hoped he'd be able to ask Veronica out for dinner, Peter tried telling himself that it was probably for the best. His mother had always strongly disapproved of his friendship with Veronica, seeing the girl as too rough and tomboyish. Besides, she wasn't even the right religion.

"Why can't you find a nice Jewish girl?" Peter's mother had asked him over and over again. He had to chuckle when he remembered his mother's attempt to set him up with Sam and Rhoda Goldstein's daughter, Sarah. The girl had acted as if a broken fingernail was the end of the world, and she'd squealed so loudly at the sight of a dead animal by the side of the road that she'd almost made Peter have a wreck.

That night was a lovely night, with a blanket of twinkling stars against a deep indigo sky, and Peter decided to go for a stroll after dinner. He was a few blocks away when he heard voices raised in anger, then a slamming door. Curious, he peeked around the corner to see Veronica's rigid back as she angrily stalked away.

I can't believe the nerve of that man! Veronica fumed as she walked away. I go out of the way to prepare a nice meal for him, and what does he do but throw it back in my face!

She'd found the recipe for a special Puerto Rican dish that Luis had mentioned that he loved in a magazine and had carefully gathered up all the ingredients and spent a couple of hours in the kitchen making it. Luis had been upset that she hadn't used as much of a certain ingredient as he would have liked and had thrown the plate full of food at her. She'd ducked and it had hit the wall, making a huge mess on the floor.

Veronica walked and walked, blowing off steam until she felt calmer. A wave of nostalgia washed over her as she realized that these were the exact same streets she and Peter had roller skated on all those years before.

When she got back to the apartment, she saw that Luis was gone. With a heavy sigh, she cleaned up the mess on the floor and put the rest of the food away.

Peter had been home for less than five minutes when his mother called him.

"Where have you been? I've been trying and trying to reach you."

"I just went for a walk, Mom. It's really nice outside tonight."

"I was hoping you'd tell me you'd met a nice girl."

"I just got here, Mom. Give me time."

"You know Myra Greenbaum's boy Aaron just married the nicest young lady. Her father is an attorney."

"This is exactly why I didn't want to move back home, Mom. Just let me get settled, and I'll see what kind of singles events they have going on at the synagogue, all right?"

"That's my boy. I know you'll do the right thing."

Peter sighed heavily as he hung the telephone back up.