The Set-Up

By Sue Fairchild

Are we not like two volumes of one book?

~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

"Hey! I wanted to let you know Dawn's nephew, John, will be here tonight. I didn't want you to think it was a set-up or anything."

Patrice was so cute when she lied.

My close friend and co-worker Patrice knew about my former fiancé breaking off our engagement. Heartbroken, I had sworn off dating and was taking some "me" time, but she remained convinced I would find someone.

My other co-worker, Dawn, had also recently heard my woes. Unfortunately, that led her and Patrice to start scheming about my love life.

Dawn had also shared her nephew's heartbreak story with me. John dated a woman whom he did errands and cleaned for, but she didn't appreciate him. I admitted it would be nice to have someone take care of me and, if he was such a good guy, the girl was nuts to treat him so badly. Dawn often mentioned it was too bad John lived so far away in Baltimore.

He had also recently sworn off dating after breaking up with the ungrateful girl. I didn't give it a second thought when Dawn told me about it because he lived so far away.

Tonight, I only wanted to spend time with my friends, not be forced into conversation with someone I didn't know. "No, absolutely not," Patrice assured. "John's here for the weekend and they're going to bring him. There is no pressure! Come and have some drinks."

I didn't care. Even if it was a set-up, I was not dating. I was, for the first time ever, okay with the reality that I might never marry. I had my own home and my dog for company; I could come and go as I pleased and could support myself. I believed my life was pretty perfect the way it was. Besides, John lived in Baltimore. He certainly wasn't moving up to Middle-of-Nowhere, Pennsylvania.

Having convinced myself, I grabbed my coat and headed out the door.

Within minutes of my arrival, the unease returned. Patrice wouldn't look me in the eye, and she began to babble as she busied herself in the kitchen.

"You need to relax. You'll meet him, have a good time and he'll go back to his house and you'll go back to yours... If nothing sparks then you go on with life as usual," she said, barely taking in a breath.

Although she was right, her words and actions did little to relax me. My life was fine as it was, I reassured myself. I always looked forward to these nights as a way to relax and let myself just "be."

However, tonight would be different. My relaxation time was about to be invaded by a newcomer. I felt myself putting up the defense shields.

I headed outside to see what Patrice's husband was doing. Vinny was arranging chairs around their fire pit, which served as our party space. He seemed oblivious to any set-up. I helped him wipe off the cobwebs and dust off the chairs.

Dawn and her husband arrived and greeted me warmly but quickly escaped inside to Patrice. Their nephew leisurely made his way over to ask if we needed assistance. Not bad looking. Kind of geeky, but he was cute and had nice blue eyes. I tried to focus on wiping down another chair.

Vinny introduced himself, and me.

"Go get yourself a drink. Just follow your uncle," Vinny added, as he winked and motioned towards me, "and don't forget the lady." I rolled my eyes and tried to look uninterested as I continued to wipe down a chair. Vinny wasn't so oblivious after all.

A few moments later John returned with a couple of bottles.

"For the lady." He bowed slightly as he handed me my drink. What a nerd, I thought, but inwardly smiled at having some attention pointed my way. I mumbled my thanks and quickly retreated to a chair on the opposite side of the fire. I was not going to get excited about something that would not happen.

But within the next hour, I changed my mind. John and I were tossing jokes back and forth like old friends. It seemed so comfortable that I let down my defenses.

Then it happened: He made a joke in reference to a movie, and I was the only one who laughed. No one else got the joke. He looked at me and smiled.

"She got it!" He pointed to me.

My heart thawed a little. I was having a ton of fun with this guy.

This went on for a few hours. He would make a joke and I would laugh or I would start a conversation and he would continue my point of view. The weirdest thing was that John and I were already finishing each other's sentences. More than once we eyed each other after these moments as if to say, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Get out of my brain!" he said after I had completed yet another one of his thoughts.

I'd never clicked with someone like this.

Then, suddenly, it was over.

My mood crashed as John and his aunt and uncle said goodbye and gathered their things.

He was on his way back to Baltimore.

He lived in Baltimore. That was over 180 miles away. Once again I had let myself hope for something more and now was faced with the reality of being alone. My giddiness ceased, and I sobered up to the reality of the situation. Even though he seemed the perfect match to me, we had many miles separating us.

As John turned to leave, his eyes lingered on me for a moment, but before I could think about giving him my e-mail or number, he was gone.

However, the connection was just too much to dismiss. A few days later, I obtained his e-mail address from Dawn and sent a tentative note.

"Hey," I wrote, "was it just me or were we hitting it off the other night?"

"I agree," he wrote back. "The way we connected the other night was a bit... odd. I felt like I had known you for years instead of just hours."

We began conversing every day. Before we ever had a real date, we knew almost everything about one another. One month later, when we did have our official first date, it felt like we had known each other forever. Within six months we were each considering moving to be closer to the other.

Patrice and Dawn always have claimed they didn't set us up that night, but it's really just a joke now, because three years later we were married and settled into our home in Middle-of-Nowhere, Pennsylvania.

People always say that you find your perfect love when you aren't looking. In our case, it was so true. Neither of us thought we needed love in our lives, but our friends saw the potential for happiness.

Even if it was a set-up.

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