Ch1-When Idiot Meets Moron

 

Jordan sighed and he quickly looked about to find the echo. He had just heard another sigh, one which wasn’t his own. He caught a view of a particularly pretty, though miserable looking woman. She was beautifully dress and sitting three seats away from him at the end of the nearly empty bar. She was also nursing a drink and she certainly looked like he felt.

“Had a rough night too, huh?” he asked.

She lifted her head and gave him a wistful smile. “No more than usual,” she replied, a tiny hitch to her voice belying this completely.

He knew he should stop talking, but misery loves company, and man, did he need company; if it came in the package of a nice lady all the better. He’d take anything right now even if it came with a smack across the face for his impertinence. To be alone was to be thinking and he didn’t need that, not tonight, perhaps not for a long time.

“Come now, can’t be all that bad,” he said with a bit of forced bravado.

“Mister, I might just make you cry, assuming you have a heart, that is,” she retorted.

“Strangely enough I don’t anymore.  You see, I just handed mine to the woman I wanted to marry and she unceremoniously stomped on it and then drop kicked it to the moon… or Venus. Venus is the Goddess of love, isn’t she? Yeah, that would make sense. She might have possession of my damaged heart right now and she’s squeezing out what little life it has left,” he said, his fist clenching unconsciously on the bar next to his drink.

Out of his breast pocket he pulled a tiny black velvet box. He stared at it for a minute then placed it midway between himself and the lady. “You can have it. Might fetch you a pretty penny at a pawn shop and you can take a tour of Europe all expenses paid on me. That should brighten your day.”

The lady stared at the box and to the man’s horror a big fat tear dropped onto the highly polished mahogany bar.

“Damn me,” he muttered sliding off his stool and going to the woman. “I’m sorry, Miss, didn’t mean to make you cry,” he said earnestly. He hated seeing someone cry. It never failed to make him cry.

“You didn’t do it,” she whispered, not even bothering to wipe at the wetness on her cheeks.

“Who did?” he asked without thinking.

“Six months. For six months I’ve been dating....” she looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. “God, I’m so stupid. An idiot, a fricken moron, total imbecile...”

“You left out dumb,” he added jokingly. He cringed at his own insensitivity. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of your pain.”

To his surprise she gave a watery giggle.

“Thanks, now we’ve covered all the bases, I can get a lobotomy and be done with it,” she said, grabbing a cocktail napkin and dabbing just under her pert little nose.

It was his turn to laugh, but he sobered quickly. “But you’re really not any of those things and you know it,” he said.

“Oh, yeah? So, why did it take me six entire months to find out he was married?” she said bitterly. “I feel so... ugh!”

“How were you to know? It was on him to be honest and he failed,” Jordan said angrily. “I hate men that prey on trusting women. Makes the rest of us look bad.”

“He didn’t wear a wedding ring, but all the clues were there. I was just blind to them. What kind of man doesn’t wear a wedding ring? He just never had one,” she said mystified.

“Well, I know my father doesn’t and neither do my brothers. They work with their hands, they use tools and get dirty and rings would get in the way. They hate jewelry all together. My dad won’t even wear a watch. Just looks up at the sun to estimate time. Needless to say he’s not good at punctuality,” he said.

Again she laughed. “You making that up?”

“Boy scout’s honest truth,” he replied holding up three fingers just for emphasis.

She stared at him shrewdly. “So, would you have worn a ring if your girl had said yes?”

He shrugged. “I could never swing a hammer. I used to get teased something awful about it, but I’m okay with it now. So, to answer you, yes, I would if....” he stopped and sighed again. “Talk about stupid. I’m the king. I thought I had found the perfect girl. You want to know why?”

It would have been impolite for her to say otherwise so she nodded.

“She was so forgiving when I couldn’t take her out every night or come over because something would suddenly come up and I’d have to fly to... wherever. Work takes me everywhere,” he explained. “She’d just say, “it’s okay,” and she would be as sweet as ever. I thought I was in love, but she wasn’t at all what I thought.”

“What was she?” the lady asked tentatively.

“Nothing more than a dinner whore by her own admission. She said she liked me fine. I had a cool car.”  He rolled his eyes then went on. “But if she married me she would only have me, one man giving her stuff instead of five. Five! It was no wonder she didn’t care if I couldn’t take her out. She had five other guys on her radar screen willing to give her whatever she wanted.”

The lady gaped. “Surely...” she muttered incredulously but she couldn’t continue. The words wouldn’t come. “What is wrong with people?”

“You’re asking the wrong guy. I ain’t got a clue,” he said dispiritedly.

They lapsed into silence each into their own heads. The man was the first to break it.

“So, how did you find out he was married?” he said, adding quickly, “If you don’t mind my asking.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “He called last minute to say something came up, had to take a client to dinner. He’d make up for it soon, he said and I bought it. I was very disappointed. I thought tonight was the night he would finally ask me to marry him. I actually thought that. Well, I was already here waiting for him and who should walk in as I sat drinking my wine? Jeremiah with a petite little blonde with whom he was holding hands plus another couple.”

“Ouch,” the man said sympathetically. “What did you do?”

“Went right up to him and stood by his table until he looked at me. And you know what?”

He was almost afraid to ask. “Deer in head lights?”

“No. I would’ve expected that. What I didn’t expect was him calmly standing up and introducing me to his beautiful wife and his brother and sister-in-law,” she answered still looking stunned about the whole thing.

“What... who did he tell them you were?” he asked, shocked.

“The truth for once. He very calmly said, “Tiffany, this is Doctor Ariana Maglioni from Willow Brooke where my mother is staying. She’s a wonderful caregiver and Mom just loves it there.”

Jordan straightened up in his seat, but said nothing allowing the lady to continue.

“I was so off-guard I couldn’t even throw my drink in his face like I had wanted to do. I just stood there until pretty little Tiffany took my hand and thanked me for being so good to her mother-in-law and then... this just about floored me. She asked if it would be all right to bring their children to visit grandma. Their children!” she said in disgust. “I was the other woman. I was hoping to marry a man already married with children. Never in my life would I ever have thought myself capable of that.”

“But you weren’t,” he said vehemently. “You didn’t know. It was on him to be honorable and, truthful. He’s scum.”

“But I should’ve known. I shouldn’t have believed everything without question.”

“You can’t go through life expecting dishonesty. What a world that would be! You did nothing wrong but this Jeremiah.... what’s his last name?” he said.

She stared at him a minute.  “Baker. Why?” she said.

“Know what he does for a living?”

“An accountant at Whitmore and Associates. Why?”

Jordan said nothing. He merely took out his cell phone, searched for a number then hit send. “Calvin, Jordan Woodward here....how’s the golf game?....good to hear. Listen, I got a problem with one of your associates. A Jeremiah Barker... Baker, yes, you are right.  Well, you know how I am. Integrity is everything.... not what I hear. He’s been seen about with a woman not his wife. The poor lady knew nothing of his marital status. Now, my concern is anyone who has that little concern for honesty in his family life, that he should lie not only to his wife but to other women, well, that’s not the kind of man I want handling my money, my considerable amount of money.”

 Jordan listened to some lengthy speech then said, “Yes, you do that, Calvin.  I appreciate it and how about a round of golf next Thursday if you’re available?... good, oh, and bring photos of that new grand-kid. Hope he looks like Janet and not you!”  He laughed heartily and hung up.

Ariana stared open-mouthed. “What in the world did you do?” she asked stupidly.

He ignored this. “So, you work at Willow Brooke. Heard it’s a nice place. Like being there?” he asked pleasantly.

“Love it,” she said shakily, her heart beating uncontrollably. “It’s great working in a place with everything you need to help these people. Nobody’s turned away for lack of money. Everyone’s so happy even the ones with no family or visitors because everyone there is like a family. Whoever started such a place...must be a saint.”

“No. He just has more money than he knows what to do with. Wants to do some good in the world,” Jordan said offhanded. “Good thing he didn’t get a yes to his marriage proposal. He’d be out of money soon if he had married the dinner whore. He’d have to start kicking people out of Willow Brooke, possibly starting with Mr. Barker’s dear mother,” he said menacingly.

“Baker,” Ariana corrected absently.  She stared at him and then her eyes flew open with a gasp. “Jordan Woodward, you are that Jordan Woodward? The millionaire?”

“Multi,” he said casually, and sipped at his watered down drink. He grimaced and pushed it away before looking at her. “Technically, Dr. Maglioni, you work for me. Funny, huh?”  He gave her a wry smile and grabbed the tiny box with the ring in it and placed it in front of her. “Perhaps you could use a little vacation. This will be my gift to you for being such a great distraction for me tonight. Almost completely forgot about Nancy. Thank you.”

She stared at him her eyes threatening water works again. “Nancy’s an idiot, isn’t she?” she whispered.

He laughed. “I’d like to think so, at least a bigger one than I am. I’m not fool enough to have told her I had money, you see,” he said conspiratorially.

“Good idea,” she agreed with a tiny smile. “A vacation sounds nice, but I’d hate to go alone. Got any plans for the next week?”

He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “You propositioning your boss?”

“No, just my new friend,” she replied sincerely. “I didn’t think anyone could make me feel better tonight, but you did. You are the most compassionate person I ever met. If that’s not friendship I don’t know what is.”

He chuckled and picked up the velvet box. He eyed it a moment then carefully placed it back into his pocket with a smirk. “Maybe I’ll be needing this after all.”