Free Chance Encounter by Chris Alesso Page B

Hannah. She’s a nurse.” I corrected myself. “- was a nurse. We’ve been friends since grammar school – even lived together for a while after college. I was doing tech support for a small company then, before moving to where I am now. She worked at St Matthias before finding the HMO job. On Tuesdays, we volunteered at the mission. On Fridays, we would hit the singles bars and run interception for each other. After a year or so, I met my husband and moved on. I didn’t see Hannah as much after that, but we tried to get together every few weeks to catch up.” I noticed Merilee nodding in understanding.
    “One night, she told me she had met a man online. She knew that’s how I met my husband so she felt it was worth a try.”
    “Did you really?” Marilee asked. “It’s good to hear it does work for some people.”
    “It did for me.” I nodded. “Anyway, she had been cruising the dating sites for quite awhile. Periodically she would meet someone for coffee or maybe a drink after work. She would date for awhile, but no one stuck, if you know what I mean.”
    “Unfortunately, I do.”
    “We both had friends who had connected successfully online so neither one of us was particularly nervous about it. It’s the modern way, after all. Still, Hannah was living alone and I knew she was very cautious about giving out her personal information.”
    “You have to be.” Marilee nodded in agreement.
“Anyway, she saw this guy’s profile online. She liked what he said, so she contacted him. He wrote back and said he had started to date someone else and apologized for not making his ad inactive.”
“So she met another guy?”
    “No, Hannah wasn’t one to give up. There was something there she liked. She wrote back that she would still like to chat as friends if he was willing. He was and they did for a couple of months. Then something changed.”
    “He stopped seeing the other girl?” Marilee guessed.
    “Uh huh. One day he wrote that the girl was gone and he didn’t expect to see her again. He was wondering if Hannah was interested in getting together. Of course she was, so they made a date to meet for a drink here. Then he said something that hit a wrong note.”
    “There’s always something isn’t there?’ Marilee said “What was it?”
    “He said he hated it when girls brought their friends to check him out. He wasn’t bringing anyone and he would rather she not come if she felt she needed a chaperone.”
    “But that’s just good sense.” Marilee said. I watched as the realization that she had come alone tonight registered in her face.
    “Oddly enough, by this time, she was feeling pretty confident about him and she had been planning to come here alone. But a signal went off. At the last minute she called and asked me to watch from the bar. If she looked like she was in trouble, I would cut in. I said I would be happy to.”
    The bartender made his rounds and this time made no bones about his interest in Marilee as he asked if we wanted another. I said yes but just the coffee this time. Marilee agree. I took a twenty out of my pocket but she waved it away. “My turn: she said, reaching into her bag. “So what happened?”
    “I left work a little early just to get into position and grabbed this very seat. He was sitting down the bar so I had a chance to study him.”
    “How did you know it was him?”
    “He had told Hannah that he would carry a white carnation. Not many guys walk into a bar with carnations.”
    My coffee came and I took a sip. Marilee’s twenty disappeared and was replaced with a five and some singles.
    “He was very good looking. Tall, slender, big smile. Sociable, too. He talked to all the people around him in that ‘alone at the bar’ way. And then, Hannah arrived and he saw her immediately as she walked in. She looked great. She had a new dress and it was beautiful. Of course red is her color.” I turned my head to look at Marilee. “It’s your color too. I can’t