The Ongoing Quest for Happily Ever After

Julie E. Miller

2007

three.

I awoke the next morning to the smell of someone cooking. Silently thanking myself for stopping after my fifth cider, I pulled myself out of my bed. In the kitchen I found Chance, standing in front of the stove, wearing a pair of boxers and a white t-shirt.

Turning to see who entered, he gave me a sleepy grin and resumed his task at the stove. “What are you making?” I asked, sitting at the kitchen table.

“Grilled cheese,” he replied, intently flipping over a sandwich in the pan.

“Grilled cheese?” I asked, my stomach rumbling. “At…” One look at the clock told me just how long I had slept. “Eleven thirty?” I mumbled as if I couldn’t believe it. The goal had been to wake up early and get started on the work I hadn’t done the night before. So much for that.

Transferring the sandwiches to a couple plates, I was surprised when Chance placed one in front of me. Surprised I looked at him and he shrugged as he put down the other plate and then sat. “I heard your stomach,” he explained. “I make the perfect grilled cheese. May as well share.”

“I doubt it’s perfect,” I said, trying to be difficult. “Perfect grilled cheese is the kind you only see in the commercials. Brown and toasted perfectly and…” I looked down at my plate to see the exact sandwich I’d just described. “How do you do that?”

He shrugged, a sly grin tugging his lips. Picking up a half of his sandwich he said, “I lived in a frat house. The guys seemed to think grilled cheese was the perfect hangover food. I got good at making them.”

Taking a bite of the sandwich, I literally could have died. For years, I’d been teased by those perfect grilled cheese sandwiches on TV…and now I was finally having one. When I looked at Chance, he seemed especially proud of himself. “I told you. I make perfect grilled cheese,” he said simply, going about eating his own sandwich.

“Where’s your brother?” I asked. “Shouldn’t he be a part of this momentous occasion?”

“He got called into work,” Chance said, as he finished off his sandwich. The thing hadn’t even lasted two minutes. “He told me that you’d take me around today and show me where things are.”

That sounded just like Brent. “So you’re bribing me with perfect grilled cheeses,” I said, the realization dawning on me. “He told you that I was going to hole up in my room and spend hours on my dissertation, so he told you to tempt me with good food and try to get me out.”

“Am I that transparent?” he asked.

I finished my sandwich and pushed my plate away from me. “I’ll take you out,” I said, reaching my decision, “but in return, you have to pay for dinner and then leave me alone when we get back so that I can get to work.”

“Agreed.”

I stood up and placed my plate in the sink. “I’m going to get ready.”

In my room, I picked up my cell phone to see if work had called me in. They hadn’t, but there was one new voice mail. Entering my pin number, I listened to an old, but familiar voice…one that I hadn’t heard in months…and before it even finished, I deleted the message.

I simply didn’t have time for that today…or any other day for that matter.

“Brent didn’t mention what a terrible driver you are,” Chance said, gripping on to the door of my car as if it were his lifejacket.

I hadn’t done anything really to warrant this claim…weaved in and out of busy traffic and nearly hit a city bus…but that was city driving for you. I turned to grin at him. “You need to drive aggressively in the city,” I said, trying to make my voice sound dangerous.

“Keep your eyes on the road!” Chance ordered and I turned my head in just enough time to brake so that I wouldn’t hit the car in front of us.

I’ll admit it. I had been taught how to drive on dirt back roads back home. My town had three stop lights…and no traffic. Coming to the city had been a huge change and it was like I’d had to completely teach myself how to drive. In all honesty, I was still learning.

Realizing where we were, I turned into the next parking lot and found a vacant spot. “And here we are.”

Chance breathed a sigh of relief as he finally pulled away from my car door. “I need a Valium just to ride in the car with you,” he said. Leaning over, I pushed him. “What? It’s true! Three buses honked at you and an old lady gave you the middle finger. An old lady!”

So maybe I’d done more than almost hit a city bus.

I really did feel bad about how much I’d scared him. Brent had his own car, so I didn’t have to drive him around often. Most of my friends drove whenever we hung out, so even they hadn’t been in the same car with me. I was starting to wonder if there was a reason for that.

“I’m sorry,” I said sincerely. “I still haven’t gotten used to driving in the city.”

Chance seemed to have calmed down enough…so much that he was looking at the building that towered over us that I’d parked in front of. “There it is,” he said softly, staring at it.

“There it is,” I repeated, nerves tangling in my stomach.

“I can’t believe they hired me,” he said softly, staring at the building that housed his new employer.

“I’m impressed,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “You’re twenty-five and one of the largest architectural firms in the nation hired you. You must be pretty damn talented.” Chance just shrugged. Long gone was the cocky guy who claimed to make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. Enter the insecure young professional who didn’t quite believe in his talents yet.

He had every right to be intimidated though. Madigan and Smithfield was one of the top architectural firms in the country. They were slowly growing to the international front and I knew in no time that they would become a global name.

Call it instinct.

We sat there for a good ten minutes, before I turned to look at him. “As much as we’ve bonded over sandwiches and my horrible driving skills,” I began, “maybe you should go in there and take care of that paperwork.” I couldn’t sit there anymore in that lot. I really wasn’t that bad of a driver. I just had so much on my mind…and being here didn’t help.

Chance shook his head. “What if this is some fluke? What if they mixed me up with some other guy?”

“I doubt that,” I said, trying my best to maintain some sense of normalcy in my voice. “I know I haven’t gotten myself a real job yet…I’ve been putting that off as long as possible. I do understand businesses like this though,” I admitted, though not to how I knew such information, “and I know that they rarely ever make mistakes…and if they do, then they don’t admit to them. So hey. If they did screw up, that’s their own damn fault.”

Chance gave me an amused grin. “That is the worst pep talk I have ever heard,” he said.

I shrugged. “Not as horrible as my driving, I’ll bet.” Good job, Jess. Pull the attention away from the building. Put it elsewhere.

Shaking his head, he opened the door. “I don’t think that’s possible.” Turning to face me, he pointed to the building. “Do you want to come in with me?”

Being in this parking lot was enough to get me worked up. I shook my head and tried to play it cool. “You need to do this on your own,” I said, giving him another light push. “Go take care of business. I’ll wait here.”

I watched as he disappeared from sight inside the building. Of all the ironic things to occur in my life, this one was sadly fitting. Chance was adorable and nice and perfect…and his new job just made him off limits to me.

Sitting in that parking lot, I did my best to blend in. Whenever someone would exit the building, I’d pray that it was Chance…but when it wasn’t, I’d play with the radio or pretend to be really interested in something in the backseat. When he finally appeared thirty minutes later, my stomach sank. Reaching between the seats, I grabbed my sunglasses and put them on. It wasn’t Chance I wanted to hide from, but his companion…

But it wasn’t like he was going to recognize me. I’d dyed my platinum blonde hair dark brown, hoping to blend in more, thus avoiding moments like this one.

Chance walked over to the car, the man at his heels. “I’ll see you Monday morning,” Chance said, climbing in next to me. He put his window down. “Thanks for your help.”

The guy nodded and looked from Chance to me. “Why in the world are you wearing sunglasses?” Chance asked me. “It’s so cloudy out there.” Joking around, he reached over and pulled them off my face. “You’re such an odd kid,” he said, putting the sunglasses on. I wanted to laugh at how ridiculous he looked in my sunglasses, I really did…

But the man who’d walked outside with Chance was still standing at the window. His eyes widened in surprise and he opened his mouth slightly. “Em-” he started, but I turned the car on abruptly and put the car into reverse as soon as possible. “Nice to meet you,” I called through Chance’s open window as we pulled away.

When we were back on the road, dodging traffic, Chance finally spoke. “I really don’t get you, Jess,” he said simply. “You’re so odd.” Normally this would offend a person, but I didn’t call him out on it. I wasn’t going to explain what had just happened in that parking lot. “I think I’m really going to like you,” he said finally…and when I turned to look at him, he had a huge grin on his face.

And wasn’t it appropriate that I could see myself really liking Chance?

Too bad it wouldn’t ever work out.