Another Infamous Date

Thinking back on these recent posts, it occurred to me that March 29 isn't the only curiously bizarre date in my life. There is another date that keeps popping up with the same mutant power: April 28. On April 28, 1972, I started seriously dating my first husband. I even had that date and our wedding date inscribed on the inside of his wedding band: April 28, 1972, December 21, 1974. On April 28, 1984, I left him. Fast forward to April 28, 2010, and I receive a phone call two days before my twenty-second wedding anniversary to Bill. That was the call that essentially ended our marriage. It was the call where Bill advised me that he was gambling, always had, always would, and that was just the way it was. Oh, yeah. I could take it or leave it, but that was the way it was. And the results of that conversation are chronicled in this blog..... But wait! There's more! In the summer of 1986 Bill and I broke up (for the first time). It was then that I bought my house. While I waited all summer for the house to come out of what seemed to be a never-ending escrow, I stayed with different friends and twiddled my thumbs. I had hoped escrow would close and I could use the end of my summer, the time between when summer school ended and the new school year started, to fix up the house. It was definitely in need of work, it badly needed painting both inside and out. But no, I didn't take possession until after school had resumed and I was deep in the throes of getting another class of 33 children going. During that long empty summer I had a fling. A fellow had met me at a party at his sister's house. He had expressed interest in me to his sister and sister-in-law and, when things went sour with Bill---and with my permission---, they passed my number on to him. He has always been in sales, and gets right on things when he wants them. He called immediately and we started seeing each other. He was a few years younger than I and had chosen not to go to college. He had attended a local, academically demanding Catholic high school and, like many people I know who went there, was all burnt out on school by the time he graduated. At the time we met, he had also just come out of a pretty confusing divorce and was bewildered and injured by what had happened. I guess his sisters thought we had a lot in common and could commiserate. It was not a good time for me to be getting intimate with anyone, and he was feeling like all he could be was a player, and the results left me feeling rather empty. A short while after that, I got back with Bill. A couple of years later I saw this guy at his sister's annual party. By then I had Laura, and he had a six-foot-tall blond who was also in sales, had no problem staking her claim, and kept him on a somewhat short leash. They had a child together and eventually said 'to heck with the Catholic church and it's stand on divorce' (she had had 3 and he 1) and about the time their daughter was seven, they went ahead and got married. Two weeks ago, I got a call on my desk phone at work. It was from him. He said he had been at his sister's and my name had come up. I can only imagine the context: Cindy is divorced and Cindy is retiring. Cindy will have a lot of free time. Anyway, he called me several times to say he was just wondering how I was doing and thinking that it's been a long time since we saw each other. Would I like to have lunch? Hmmmmmmm.....in a public place. Ok, sure. Since then he has been very persistent. Texts, calls. I had an uneasy feeling. My exercise partner has dinner at his sister's every Sunday night and she happened to be in my room when he and I finally spoke on the phone. When I hung up I looked at her and said, "What does he want? Why is he calling me?" She had the predictable answer, "There's trouble in paradise." "I'm not getting involved," I said. "I will go out to lunch because I have one burning question I've been wanting to ask him for 25 years, and it has nothing to do with my affair with him. I will be cordial." I will have lunch with him tomorrow. His birthday is April 28.