In His Secret Life

Chapter 3-2

My phone had run out of power half an hour ago, so I walked in silence with my headphones hanging around my neck. I was tired but sober, and somehow, the sounds of the street didn’t reach me. I felt alone, yet was surrounded. Although the sidewalks were still bustling with people, I was detached from them all, completely unseen and unimportant. An average man with ordinary features, that’s what I was, and until you got to know me, saw me smile, or heard my thoughts, you would never know what I had to offer. People were so busy looking down into their phones that I could have been Jason Lewis wearing nothing but a bottle of Absolut vodka and still go unnoticed.

Was I truly done with clubbing? Finished with the meat market? What, would I randomly bump into the man of my life at the grocery store? Might as well believe in the Easter Bunny.

I was going to be single for the rest of my life.

I turned the corner of my street and walked through the park I usually took Fay to on Friday evenings. The swing set was empty. The night was still.

As I came up to my home, I heard my sister calling down to me.

She sat on the second-floor balcony with a man I presumed was Dayton. They had a single candle burning, its flame flickering on the table between them. “What are you doing home so early?” She leaned over the railing. “Is everything okay?”

I stood below, looking up at them, trying to see his face. He looked handsome from down here, but I was dying to see him up close. “I’m fine. Didn’t feel like staying all night.”

“You walked here?” She laughed. “From downtown? You’re crazy. Come up here and meet Dayton.”

All right, here we go.

“Okay.” I climbed up the stairs and stopped on the last step. “Hello.” He stood, and she was right, he was tall.

“Hi there,” he said in a cool, even voice. “I’ve heard so much about you.” He laughed and his laugh was quite dorky but absolutely endearing. “I feel like I know you or something.” He grabbed my hand, pumping it vigorously. “I’m Dayton.”

I liked him. Just like that. I liked this guy a lot. He had one of those open, trusting faces. He wasn’t the type of man I’d notice on the street, but he was wholesome-looking. Safe is what he was. “Nice to meet you,” I returned, shaking his hand.

“Sit down, hon.” Elsie unfolded a chair for me and quietly slid the patio door open. “I’ll get you a glass.”

I wondered if I was intruding, but Dayton insisted. “Join us.” He sat down again and the chair creaked under his weight. He looked more like a gym teacher than a math professor. “So the night didn’t turn out the way you wanted?” he asked, winking.

Something about him put me at ease. “Not exactly, no.”

“Yeah, it happens. The club scene is pretty brutal.” He looked over at the door and leaned in. “I’m glad I’m out of it.”

I supposed he meant meeting my sister, and that won points with me. “Elsie tells me you’re a teacher. What grade?”

“Nine.”

“That’s tough.”

He laughed again. “You said it.”

“Here you go.” Elsie returned with my glass, filling it up with red wine. “Cheers.”

Dayton clinked his glass to mine and held my stare, but his look was direct and clear of any malice. “To beginnings,” he said.

We spoke quietly, with great ease, and after fifteen minutes in their company, I felt like I was sitting with an old couple.

Could this be it for Elsie? They made such a good pair. My sister seemed so much more relaxed around him. She kept laughing and smiling.

After a while, Dayton cleared his throat, stealing a look at his watch. “I should get going,” he said. It sounded more like a question than an affirmation. “It’s late. Fay’s gonna be up early tomorrow. You need your sleep.”

Elsie was obviously debating. I couldn’t blame her. She wanted him to stay. “You could come by tomorrow,” she finally said. “For dinner. I mean, if you’d like to meet Fay.”

This was very quick. Yet I knew it was also…right.

“I heard you’re quite the cook,” Dayton said, looking at me. Was he inviting me? How thoughtful.

“Oh, Allan, it would be great if you were there, too. For Fay, I mean.”

“Absolutely,” Dayton said, getting up. “She’ll feel much more at ease with her uncle around the first time she meets me.”

Was this guy for real?