Page 16 of Undefeated

“Turkey,” his sweet breath whispered.

He leaned a little closer. I leaned toward him a little more.

“Get your little sticky note pad and get a new note, Kace. Write this on it. I’m coming, Kace. I’m coming for your heart,”

As he turned and walked away, I stood up and turned to face him.

And I melted a little.

Good lord.

Wow.

I could just watch him walk forever.

SHANE. I’ve spent most of my adult life wanting to be in a meaningful relationship. The relationships we have in high school never really amount to anything meaningful, and I don’t look at my high school relationships as being anything but relationship curiosity. To think as a high school student that we have any idea of what we want, need, or really desire in a life-long mate is ridiculous at best.

I had a relationship as an adult for several years with Tina. She and I were inseparable. She spent all of her spare time with me, and I did the same with her. She even spent considerable time at the gym watching me train. I suspected we would get married and spend our lives together. Being around her made me feel as if my life was in order.

One day, she came home and told me - with much excitement - that she was accepted into the Navy. I was beyond shocked. After a lengthy discussion, I found out that she had been trying to pass the entrance examinations for a few years. She never bothered to tell me her desire to join the military - and after the relationship ended, it seemed cheap and worthless.

Since that relationship ended, I have had no desire to actively pursue any female companions. I always figured I’d spend the rest of my life focused on boxing and being single. I have had no desire to be in any form of a relationship.

Meeting Kace was refreshing and strange at the same time. I have never met a woman that immediately possessed my thoughts the way that she did. Even after the meeting for the first time in the parking lot, I found myself thinking about her often. I wondered if she was happy, safe, and most of all - single. Seeing her for the second time when I went to pay my insurance agent’s office made me wonder about fate.

My grandfather told me that God puts people in our lives for a reason. It’s our responsibility to recognize them for what he intends them to be to us. Some people are bad, and we need to recognize them as such. The bad people or events in life allow us to have an accurate means of measuring the good – a basis of comparison – the difference between good and evil. Other people are good, and may have something to offer us – to make our lives, minds, or basic understanding richer. If something or someone is presented to us once, we will often dismiss it as being nothing more than happenstance. If that person or situation is presented twice, it is God slapping us in the face and telling us to pay attention. It is fate.

I believe in fate.

Looking through the window toward the office building, I took a drink of my water. As she began to cross the street, I felt my heart race. I stood up and watched her cross the street. Smiling, she waited for a break in traffic. She was wearing a black pencil skirt, heels, and a tangerine colored sleeveless top. Clearly and without any effort whatsoever, she defined beauty as she gracefully ran across the street in her high heels.

As she hopped over the curb and onto the sidewalk, she rubbed her hands on her skirt. Her hair appeared to be naturally blonde, and bounced as she walked down the sidewalk toward the door. As the bell that hung over the entrance chimed, I sat back into my seat.

I leaned forward in the booth and turned her direction. As she made eye contact, I waved. She smiled and slowly walked my direction. This woman was simply adorable.

As she approached the booth, I stood from my seat and inched between the table and seat to the aisle. I stood in the aisle, looked down at my raggedy boots, and back up at her.

Standing about a foot in front of me, she rubbed her hands on her skirt and stared up into my eyes, smiling. Slowly, she raised her right hand between us, and waved. Not certain if she could speak intelligibly or not, I pointed to the other side of the booth.

She stepped away from me and walked to the other side of the booth.

“I got you a bottle of water, sit down. Relax,” I said softly.

She placed her purse in the seat and slid into the booth beside it. She twisted the lid off of the bottle of water and took a long drink, raising her eyebrows and focusing on me as she did. As she placed the bottle and the lid onto the table, she took a deep breath.

“Hopefully,” she smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulder

“My mouth and brain will stay,” she paused.

“Connected,” she smiled as she exhaled.

I pulled my hands from my hoodie pockets and lightly clapped. She rested her elbows on the table and patted her hands together in a mimicking fashion until I stopped. When I stopped clapping she placed her hands in her lap and smiled.

I pressed my forearms onto the edge of the table and leaned her direction, “You’re adorable.”

Without speaking, her mouth formed the words, thank you.

“Just in case you get mixed up with your words - one tap always means yes, two means no, okay?” I said.