SWEET SATURDAY SAMPLES: THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY -- JULY 27

Welcome to another Sweet Saturday Sample.

I have been excerpting from my WIP Interior Designs, and two BFFs, Martha and Maeve, have planned a strategy for jumpstarting their love lives.

In today’s episode, the two are considering the results of their Internet dating and wondering about the wisdom of this approach, when Maeve mentions an old boyfriend from the past.

***

“Hey, there’s an idea,” I said, grasping onto this latest tidbit.  “We could Google all the old boyfriends who got away.  That, at least, would be a bit better than this Internet dating.  Which I’m thinking wasn’t such a great idea.”

“Did you have anyone special in mind?”

My memories carried me across the years to that one intriguing guy in my English IA class, back in the day.  He’d been cute, with a blond short cut that hinted at the businessman he would become someday.  He’d talked about his dream to be a millionaire before he turned thirty-five.  Which would mean he might be one right now!  What was his name?  Oh, yeah…Duane Weatherly.

“I’m waitin’ for your dream man,” her voice poked me back into the present.

“Duane Weatherly,” I replied smugly.  “Did I ever tell you about him?  He was in my English class, and he had big dreams of being a millionaire…in his thirties.  He was already playing the stock market.”

“Well, there you go.  But you realize, of course, that there’s always a chance that he’s broke, or married, or both.  Or that he’s fat and homely.”  Her sparkling laughter broke through the fantasy for a moment.

“It’s worth a try, though, isn’t it?”  I was now more determined than ever to find out whatever happened to Duane.

“Well, gotta go,” Maeve interrupted my thoughts again.  “Let me know what you discover.”

I clicked my information into Google after I hung up the phone.  There were pages and links under Duane’s name:  a very official-looking website, and a couple of personal ones.  I decided to check out the official one first.  That might reveal how his business sense had ended up.  Sure enough, he was apparently a CEO of a very huge company.  There was a photo, too, and even though he was dressed like a businessman, I could still see a glimmer of the college boy I’d known.  Something like a glow descended, as I recalled the moments he and I had shared all those years ago.  We’d spent a few lunches together, talking about our dreams.  Even though I’d been dating Hal, I could recall being intrigued.  I think he had a girlfriend, too, but there was a mutual attraction.  Why else would I have thought of him now, so many years later?

I checked on the personal sites, and saw that he was listed as “single.”  Great!  I also studied his location, because it wouldn’t do much good if he lived too far away.  Of course, odds were against him living in my city.  Sure enough…he was in LA.

Well, that would probably put a kibosh on the whole thing, I decided.  But, just out of curiosity, I decided to send him an e-mail, anyway.  Who knew what could happen?  In the personal message, I reminded him of our college class together.

Before I closed the computer down, I Googled Gordon Thomas.  And as the pages and links filled my screen, I could see that, at least superficially, he was telling the truth.

***