Unfortunately, the man having the affair with Chase’s first wife happened to be his best friend, Bill, whom he knew from work. Chase had gotten off early one day, and after grabbing a beer in the kitchen and heading down the hall toward his bedroom, he suddenly stopped when he noticed the door was closed. He and Yvette always left it open, so this seemed peculiar. The door squeaked a little as he eased it open. Just as his lips began to form his wife’s name, his jaw dropped in utter disbelief at the scene before him: Yvette and Bill in bed, his bed, together.
Chase hurled his bottle against the wall above them, the glass exploding and beer foaming down over the bedframe. Bill quickly gathered up his clothes while Chase paced the room, shouting expletives. Once Bill hurried into the hallway, mumbling “Sorry, Chase,” as he fled, Chase vehemently told Yvette he was done with her. Though they had navigated through many conflicts and arguments, he knew their already feeble marriage could never weather this storm. The divorce became final in just a few months.
A year and a half later he met Linda. They were attending a sales and marketing seminar in Westwood. He was nearly twenty-five; she was two years older. Though Chase had vowed not to date, he had a sudden change of heart and asked Linda out for coffee during a seminar break. They instantly connected. She too had a father who drank and an overly protective mother, and she had lived through a separation that had devastated her and her sister. She too did not want a marriage like her parents’—one of the reasons she remained single.
Linda had beautiful green eyes and a soft demeanor that Chase found attractive. She was tall, just a few inches shy of his own five-foot-nine frame. While Yvette had always been combative and disingenuous, Linda offered sensitivity and honesty. Instead of ridicule, Linda showed appreciation; instead of fear, confidence.
Chase asked her out a second time, hoping to impress her by taking her to his favorite Italian restaurant, not far from his apartment.
“So you say you’ve never been married?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.
“What? Oh yeah, I guess I did,” Linda answered with a smile. “No, I can’t seem to find the nerve.”
“But you’ve had boyfriends.”
“Of course,” she said with a laugh, “lots of them over the years. Guess I’m simply not the right type, or maybe I’ve never met the right type. I don’t know. Perhaps marriage is not in the cards.”
Although they had known each other for only a short time, Chase hoped her luck might change, but he knew he had to be careful. “Yeah, I think that’s true of me as well. I was married once before, but it wasn’t anything I’d recommend.”
“What do you mean?”
Chase let out a sigh. “Well, it’s a long story, but let’s just say that I married the worst person on earth.” He chuckled as soon as he said it.
“Can you tell me about it?” asked Linda, smiling in return.
“I’d much rather hear about your life.”
“I know, but this sounds like a big thing. I can understand if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“All right. Here goes.” Chase told her everything. He watched Linda’s reactions as he spoke, how her cute lips would widen when he tried to make a joke out of difficult circumstances, her curiously raised brows when he haltingly recalled entering the bedroom that day. He didn’t think she moved the entire time.
A waiter approached their table and asked them the typical questions, allowing Chase to take a breath and think through what else Linda might want to know. “I’ve never shared this with anyone,” he finally admitted.
“Well I can see why! Chase, what a horrible experience. So then you, um, divorced her right away?”
“Absolutely. Didn’t think I’d ever date again.” He couldn’t believe he said that.
Linda giggled. “Oh, I guess that’s what we’re doing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but this feels a whole lot different from anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s like I’ve known you forever. Hey! What are you laughing about? That wasn’t a line. I’m serious.”
“It just struck me as funny.” She gently wiped her mouth on the cloth napkin and then reached for her hair with her free hand. “Actually that’s very nice. Thank you.”
“I like it when you do that, by the way.”
“Do what?”
“Play with your curls.”
Linda’s right hand dropped to her side. “I’m sorry. It’s just a habit I’ve had for a—”
“No, really, it’s charming,” he assured her with a smile. “Anyway, here’s the craziest part of the story, if you can imagine it getting crazier. Yvette gives me a call about three months or so after the divorce. I’ve already moved up here, so I’m not sure how she located me. This is still pre-cell phone days! So she calls me and says that she met Jesus, that she’s sorry for everything she did and wants my forgiveness, that everything was her fault, that I was a great guy, and would I like to see her again. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe this was the same person, but there was absolutely no way I could agree to meet up with her. I just told her that I was happy for her but way too busy to get together anytime soon. She begged for my forgiveness, so I gave it and said good-bye.”
“That’s it?” Linda asked, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“She never called you again?”
“Nope.”
“What about Jesus?”
“What about him?”
Linda leaned forward with a mischievous look. “Did he ever call you?”
“Oh yeah, you’re real funny!”
They laughed, Chase realizing he had never enjoyed someone’s presence as much as this.
Linda suddenly turned sober. “Chase, have you ever done anything about religion? I mean, do you believe in God?”
“Of course I do. I’m Catholic.”
“Oh.”
“What about you?” he asked.
“Do I believe in God? Sure. I mean, I was raised in church. Not Catholic. I was Baptist. I went to Sunday school and all that. I really liked the camps because of all the boys,” she remembered with a grin. “So, yeah, I believe in God. I just don’t talk about it much.”
“Well that’s okay with me. I don’t like people trying to cram things down my throat like they have something I need. God is God, and that’s enough for me.”
The two continued to date for the next several months. Since their careers in sales and marketing overlapped, they spent countless hours helping each other, discussing market trends, and brainstorming corporate-sales and management issues. They talked children, dreams, goals, life’s joys and pleasures.
Though he was never completely certain at what point they fell in love, Chase felt so free from a life of rejection, failure, and self-inflicted isolation that it seemed as if his other life never existed. He knew and experienced love for the first time, not only because Linda helped heal his wounds but because they were such a perfect match intellectually and emotionally.
Chase had never shared his feelings with anyone before this relationship. He didn’t even know that he had long wrestled with his true identity, with deep father issues, or with fear of vulnerability. Somehow Linda made him feel safe enough for self-revelation, and somehow she always had the right words to say, bringing comfort to his soul.
He knew that Linda loved his sense of humor and his easygoing nature. She told him so. One night she surprised him, however, by saying that she trusted him more because of his past, not in spite of it. She quoted someone who once said, “Don’t follow anyone who doesn’t walk with a limp!”
Since Linda admired all that he had endured over the years, Chase felt ready to limp down the aisle with her as his wife. Their first several years proved marvelous. Each had never met a closer counterpart.