TWICE IN LOVE
by Elliot Richard Dorfman

Shortly after retiring from her prestigious job as senior editor at a New York publishing company, Sheila got the courage to divorce her husband, Harry, after forty-one years of mundane marriage. She had been naively influenced by her mother to marry him because he came from a wealthy family.
 
After the honeymoon, it didn’t take long to realize the marriage had been a bad mistake. Still Sheila hoped with time the relationship would work out. Unfortunately, it didn’t. Now alone and disgusted at sixty-two, she decided to move to Florida.

"I hope I’m doing the right thing," she thought. "I don’t like lounging around the pool or playing cards every day like many seniors do."

Clearing out a closest, Sheila took a box full of letters her mother left when she died. Never opening it until now, she was surprised to find a sealed letter addressed to her from Bobby Tanner, a high school sweetheart. Sheila still remembered his thick shiny black hair atop a manly, but sensitive, face. Like her, he enjoyed interests such as music, theatre and literature. Then one week they had an argument over some spot jock she knew. Bobby walked out on her when she refused to stop talking with the guy. Sheila hoped he would condescend and eventually contact her, but they never saw each other again. Now many decades later, here was his letter!
 
"My mother always felt she knew what was best for me," Sheila recollected. "Just because his parents worked in a factory, she thought he was beneath me." Her eyes filled with tears as she read his apology:

June 4, 1959

Dear Sheila,
I apologize for walking out on you last night. I am sorry I made you cry. I realize it was silly for us to quarrel. I’d go crazy if I lost you. You mean so much to me! Please forgive me. Please, don’t be mad. Hope to hear from you as soon as you read this letter.

All my love,

Bobby
 
"Wonder how things would have turned out had I got the letter and we made up. It certainly would have been better than living with Harry!" Sheila sighed as she made a cup of tea.
 
The phone rang. It was Melissa Gardner, a close friend she had known since childhood. Melissa had a charmed life. After graduating community college, she met Ken while working as a para-legal. It was instant attraction. After marrying, they had a large family and moved to Fonda, New York.
 
"Honey, how about driving up here and staying with us for the weekend?  It will be the last chance we’ll get to see each other for a long time."

Sheila accepted.
 
The sun was rising on a beautiful autumn morning when Sheila took a wrong exit on the throughway and got lost. "Just go straight to the traffic light and make a right onto Vender Mill’s Road," a gas station attendant told her. "It will take you straight to your destination."
 
There was little traffic at that hour. Sheila drove slowly, taking in all the rustic scenery of the season when she saw a young man sobbing near a fence on the side of the road. Pulling over, Sheila got out to see if he needed assistance. Moving closer, she was taken aback. This weeping person looked like Bobby Tanner, except a bit older. Perhaps he was a relative.

"Do you need help?" Sheila asked, but there was no response.

Touching his shoulder to get his attention, her hand went right through him. She stepped back in horror as the man grabbed his cane and vanished.

Flustered, Sheila got into the car and sat there for a while, trying to make sense of what happened. "It was all too vivid to be a figment of my imagination," the woman reasoned. Sheila always scoffed at the notion of anything supernatural, but now . . . In any case, this weird experience left her unnerved.
 
"You’re so pale, Sheila," Melissa remarked when she saw her friend. "You look like you’ve seen a ghost."
 
"Maybe I did," Sheila answered and proceeded to tell her what had happened.
 
"The discovery of Bobby’s letter got you to subconsciously think of him," Melissa concluded afterward.
 
"Gosh, I would have eventually married Bobby if my mother had not interfered."
 
"Oh, come on, how many women can brag about having been an editor of a large publishing company?"
 
"But I’ve not done so well in my private life. After more than forty years of a failed marriage, I’m left with nothing but loneliness."
 
Later that evening, Ken came up with a great idea. "Maybe we can locate him. I’ll ask my friend who works for the Motor Vehicle bureau to check if Bobby has a license. That should give us some information."
 
"I still remember his birthday, December first, nineteen-forty-five," Sheila shyly interjected.
 
"Girly," said Ken, giving her wink, "I think you still have the hots for him."
The rest of the weekend went by without any more strange incidents.
 
Once Sheila got home, she became immersed in last minute preparations and forgot about Bobby. Six months later, her apprehension about moving to Florida proved accurate.
 
"This life style turns me off," she told Melissa, who called to find out how things were working out. "I don’t think I can endure it much longer."
 
Finally, Sheila returned to Manhattan in September and rented a studio apartment on Central Park West. Despite joining various senior groups and organizations, Sheila still felt sad and lonely. Oh, she did date, but too many of them were set in their ways or acted like they were in their second childhood. Just about this time, memories of Bobby returned and began to flood her mind.

Then one cold December day, Melissa called with exciting news. "Ken finally remembered his promise to you and contacted his friend at the Motor Vehicle Bureau. We’re in luck. Bobby Tanner lives in the mountains, not too far from where you saw him."
 
Sheila felt a tinge of excitement. "I wonder what he looks like and what he’s doing now."
Melissa laughed how Sheila’s tone changed from sad to exuberance. "Well, Girl, come up to us and we’ll check him out."
 
Sheila left the very next morning.
 
It was snowing when she arrived upstate. Melissa and Ken were hanging holiday decorations on the porch when she drove into the driveway. A beautiful Christmas tree greeted her in the living room. The fireplace gave off a nice cozy feeling.
 
"If not for our grandchildren’s Christmas visits, I don’t think we’d still be putting up decorations," Ken said as he sat down in his armchair.
 
“Give me a break, Ken," chided his wife. "You like all the glitter yourself. Maybe you’re a senior citizen, but you still have the spirit of a little boy."
 
Shirley thought of the emptiness gnawing at her. Melissa and Ken were lucky to have grandchildren. Equally important, they had each other.

By late afternoon, the snow had stopped. Melissa could sense how anxious Sheila was to meet Bobby. "I bet you’re thinking about him."
 
Sheila nodded. "Melissa, I don’t know why, but something is telling me I‘ve got to see Bobby as quickly as possible. I can’t explain the urgency, but could we take a ride to his place right now?"
 
The car stopped at a small attractive cottage that had large pine trees surrounding it. There were lights in the widows.
 
"He’s home," Ken remarked. “Do you want us to accompany you?”
 
"No, it’s not necessary."
 
Sentimental memories of her youth came rushing back as Sheila got out of the car and walked to the front door. She rang the bell a few times, but no one responded. When she turned to leave, the door suddenly swung opened.
 
"Sorry, it took so long. It takes me a while to get to the door with my bum leg."
 
Sheila turned. There was Bobby! His mop of dark brown hair had turned gray, and there were wrinkles around his big hazel eyes, but all in all, he was not too bad for his age, she accessed.
 
At first Bobby seemed sad and listless, but then his eyes grew wide when he recognized her. "Sheila! I don’t believe it. I never thought we’d meet again. Wow! Please, come in."
 
His place was small but tastefully furnished. A big white Presa Canaria dog walked over to Sheila, gave her sniff, then went back to sleep on a green oval woven rug in front of the fireplace.
 
"Zeus approves of you," he jokingly remarked. "He’s my only pal and protectorate."
 
"So, do you live alone here?" Sheila asked.

He nodded. "I was married for a short time when I was young, but that was a big mistake. And how has your life been all these years?"

"The same, only it took me forty-one years to come to my senses before getting divorced."
 
"Have any children?"
 
"Harry didn’t want any. He was too wrapped up in himself."
 
"Sorry it didn’t work out for you. Gosh, we have so much to talk about. Please, take off your coat and relax. Would you like a cup of hot chocolate?"
 
"Sure," Sheila said. "I’ll just use my cell phone and let my friends, Melissa and Ken know that I’ll be here for a while. They are waiting for me in the car. They live quite close to you."
 
"Is that the same Melissa I knew in high school?"
 
Sheila’s nodded. "She’s been happily married for years and is blessed with two sons and four grandchildren."

"Fantastic. Send my regards and tell her I’ll see her later when I drive you back."
 
At first, the two reminisced about the old days. Then, as Sheila began to feel more comfortable, she told him about finding his belated letter and having the strange vision on Vender Mills Road.
 
"That vision was accurate," he responded. "After moving to this area, I became sort of a daredevil. During that phase of my life, I had an affair with a local girl, who trapped me into getting married by falsely telling me I had made her pregnant. She divorced me right after my motorcycle accident, which left me with a permanent limp. I went into a short depression, usually hanging out at Veeder Mills Road where the accident happened and bemoaned my fate. Luckily, I snapped out of that mood and got my life together. After getting my college degree, I became an English teacher at the local high school. Never married again, though."
 
Bobby paused. Suddenly there were tears in his eyes. "Sheila, I’m going to be honest with you. After I retired last year, I started feeling old and lonely. Nothing in life seemed to interest me, no matter what I did. My depression became so bad that tonight I was planning to end it all after bringing Zeus to a neighbor who I knew would take care good of him. I guess I forgot the old adage about never knowing what lies around the corner. By coming here, you saved my life. "

"Now everything makes sense," Sheila mused.

The mutual attraction they still had was powerful. Bobby pressed Sheila close to him and gave her such a passionate kiss her entire body tingled. She stayed with him the entire weekend.
 
"Well, what are your plans now?" Melissa asked the rekindled lovers when she saw their beaming faces on Monday.
 
"I’m returning with Sheila to Manhattan," Bobby answered. "We plan to make up for all the time we lost being away from each other."
 
He wasn’t exaggerating. On New Years day, the couple flew to Las Vegas and eloped. Just before entering their hotel room, Bobby turned to Sheila.
 
"You know, honey, I've been twice in love."
 
Sheila became a little distraught. "But I thought you didn’t love your first wife."
 
He smiled. "I didn’t. I’ve fallen in love twice with the same beautiful woman."
 
Despite his bad leg, Bobby picked up the bride and carried her across the threshold.

Brief Bio:
Elliot Richard Dorfman taught in the New York City School System for more than three decades, as well as giving private vocal and piano lessons. He founded Suma Play Productions, Inc., and was artistic director of the American Youth Repertory Company, Off Broadway. After retiring, he moved with his family from the borough of Brooklyn to Johnstown, New York. Among his successful former students are American tenor, Daniel Rodriguez, and character actress, Kelly Wolf. Mr. Dorfman, a former member of the NY Dramatist Guild and Associated Music teachers League, has appeared and written for radio and television. His plays (dramas and musicals) have been presented on the professional stage, schools and centers. Thirty-eight recent short stories have or will be published in the following magazines: Delivered Twisted Dreams , Bewildering Stories, Golden Visions, Static Movement ,NVH , The Tiny Globule ,Perpetual, Black Petals , Blood Moon Rising, Demonic Tome, Short Story Library Magazine. Poems have appeared in Falling Star, Orange Room Review, Debris, and Golden Visions.
Mr Dorfman's story, "Perfect For Each Other" was voted by the readers of Golden Visions Magazine as the best story in the April-May-June issue.