She walked and sat on an empty bench that was overlooking some friends throwing a Frisbee. They looked like they didn’t have a care in the world. She stared at them and realized she envied them. She’d always had a heavy heart, her parents’ death, stress that her aunt and uncle couldn’t afford to take care of her, worry that her grades wouldn’t be good enough to get into Columbia with Ella who was a legacy, anxiety over loving Maxwell secretly and now confusion over the fact that he had a child with Alexis. She thought she was too young for all this turmoil in her life and laughed out loud.
“A penny?” A man’s voice interrupted her hysterical laughter and she looked over at him. A handsome young man who looked like he was in his late twenties had joined her on the bench. He smiled at her warmly, “Or a dime if the joke is super funny.”
“Just a dime for a funny joke?” She smiled at him. “My jokes are worth at least a dollar.”
“I think I can find that.” He pulled out his wallet and looked for a dollar. “But it had better be a good joke.”
“I don’t think it’s worth a dollar.” She shook her head and sighed. “In fact, I don’t even think it’s worth a penny.”
“Want to talk?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener.” He laughed to himself then and she shook her head.
“No. Not really.” She pointed at the group of guys throwing the Frisbee. “They look like they’re having fun. I was just watching them.”
“You wanna play?”
“Oh you know them?” She looked at him in surprise; he was wearing a dark suit and didn’t seem to fit the jeans and T-shirt look of the slightly younger looking guys.
“No, but I’m sure I can convince them to play if you want to.” He grinned at her.
“Oh, I don’t know.” She looked at the laughing guys wistfully. “I should really be going.”
“Frisbee’s fun.” He jumped up. “Let’s go play.”
Sophie studied the handsome man before her. His dark blond hair was cut short and he had deep brown chocolate eyes. He looked a bit like Leonardo Di Caprio, she thought. If she’d been single she would have been attracted to him.
“Come on.” He held his hand out to hers. “It won’t kill you to have some fun. I think we both need it.” He smiled at her warmly. “If I tell you I had a bad day as well, will it make you say yes?”
She looked at his outstretched hand and infectious smile and jumped up. “You know what. You’re right. I need to have some fun right now. Let’s go play.”
“Hey guys, can my friend and I join?” The man took off his jacket and threw it into to the grass as he and Sophie joined in the game. She laughed as the guys all made sure to throw the Frisbee to her softly
“You guys can throw it harder and longer.” She grinned at them. “I promise you I can get it.”
“Yeah?” The guy closest to her grinned. “Okay, we will have to step up our game, you heard the young lady.”
Sophie was heaving breathlessly after running to get the Frisbee and the handsome man came up to her and laughed. “I’m glad I turned your frown upside down.”
“Thank you.” She beamed at him. “I needed this right now.”
“I’m glad I was able to help.” He rubbed her back. “I’m Nicholas by the way.”
“Sophie.” She smiled at him.
“A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.” He smiled into her eyes and Sophie blushed.
“Oh, I’m engaged,” she blurted out red.
“Is that your name Sophie Engaged?” He grinned at her, trying to hide his disappointment.
“Ha, no.” She smiled at him. “I just wanted to put it out there, just in case you know.”
“That doesn’t stop us from being friends, I hope?”
“No.” She smiled at him warmly. “I’ve been looking for some new friends recently.”
“Well, then it was fate that we met.” He studied her face and took in the lines of obvious stress and paused. “I’ve been told I make a pretty good friend and listener.”
“Then I’m glad we met, Nicholas.”
“You can call me Nick.”
“Then I’m glad we met, Nick.”
“Or St. Nick.”
“Then I’m glad we met Santa Claus.” She burst out laughing and he brushed a piece of a dead leaf off of her cheek. And she stood there staring into his brown eyes with her cheek tingling.
“So am I, Sophie.” He looked around. “I think our new friends are about done for the night. Would you like to go and get a coffee?”
“Oh, I shouldn’t.” She looked at her phone to figure out the time but she realized that her phone was dead.
“Do you need to get home to your fiancé?”
Sophie thought about Jacob and Maxwell and sighed. “No, I don’t need to rush home. Let’s go and get hot chocolates.”
“That sounds even better.” He smiled. “Let’s toast to new friendships.”
“Yes, we’ll toast to new beginnings.” She smiled half-heartedly. She knew that her life was now on a different path, no matter what happened next; nothing would ever be the same again.
“I like that. Here’s to new beginnings.” He picked up his jacket and they waved to their Frisbee friends and left the park chatting aimlessly, both of them happy to have found a kindred lost soul. Neither one of them realizing that they had just started the path to a tumultuous and rocky journey.
***
“So you love sitcoms, board games and long walks on the beach?” Nick laughed. “Is that about right?”
“Yes.” Sophie laughed. “I didn’t realize that I was so transparent.”
“Well you know.” He grinned.
“Okay, let me try you.” She paused and stared at him. “You like surfing, Broadway shows and camping?”
“I can kill a bear with my bare hands.’
“Now that’s impressive.” Sophie smiled and sipped the last of her hot chocolate. “It’s getting late.” She sighed. “I should get going.” She sat back and gathered her things together.
“It’s been nice having hot chocolate with you, Sophie.” He smiled at her, his warm brown eyes filling her with an inner calm. “You have made me forget all my problems for the evening.”