It took a lot of courage to finally pick up the phone and call Barney after twelve years. When I finally did dial the number and hear his voice all I could say was "Hey". When there was a pause that seemed like an eternity all the reasons why I had put off making the call flashed through my mind. He didn't remember me, what nut says "hey" instead of hello this is.... or he simply did not want to hear from me. Just as I was about to hang up and forget the whole thing I heard "Hey, yourself. Where have you been for the last eleven years, seven months and six days?". Somehow I managed to mumble something about being in the process of moving to Kansas City. He stopped me in the middle of my rambling and said he wanted to see me. Could I meet him for lunch tomorrow? Without any hesitation I said yes and he gave me the name and address of a restaurant and then added he could not wait to see me.
Even though a sense of relief swept over me after the phone call there were some serious doubts about my having called him. The best thing to do was to stay busy for the next twenty-four hours so I made arrangements for a babysitter and took the boys to the zoo for the afternoon. I did drive by the restaurant that afternoon so I could be sure to find it the next day. When Dennis came back to the motel that evening I told him I was going to have lunch the next day with an old Stephens friend and he just said that was nice.
I surprised myself by not really being very nervous getting ready or driving to the restaurant. Barney had always been easy to talk to and of all of the people in my life I had been more open and honest with him than anyone else. There was perhaps a little apprehension when I walked into the restaurant and the maitre d' asked if he could be of service. I told him I was meeting someone, he smiled and said "right this way". As we made our way through the restaurant I saw Barney stand as we approached the table. There was that same smile, that same lock of hair that fell across his eyes and he had not changed a bit.
He came around the table gave me a big hug, said how glad he was to see me. When I asked him how the maitre d' knew I was meeting him he said he showed him a picture of me. He pulled a slightly worn photograph out of his wallet taken back in the Stephens days. Wow and I thought I was the only one that kept all that stuff.
It is difficult to explain the feeling that crept over me the moment I saw him. There is a lot to be said for staying in touch with family and old friends. Ever since I had married Dennis I actually spent very little time with my family and had not seen or heard from any of my childhood friends except Pam and Cathie. There is something special about people you grew up with even if you weren't best friends. For some reason it always seems like you just saw them yesterday. The years, the disappointments and the bad times seem to just melt away.
We spent the next three hours talking. I was afraid several times when he asked about a bottle of red or a bottle of white or said he couldn't believe I looked so good after all this time that he was going to burst into song like he used to do. When I teased him about it he just laughed and said it was rather like the scene from an Italian Restaurant by Billy Joel. Instead of talking about Brenda and Eddy we discussed Pam and Cathie. I told him Pam was in the L.A. area working at a bank and travelling around the world. That I had pictures and postcards from all sorts of fascinating places. Cathie, on the other hand, had married a super nice guy but they had split because he wanted children and she did not. Besides she was busy protesting pigs raised in cages and doing women's marches.
When the subject changed to he and I he said he had married Sarah six months after I had gotten married. The marriage did not last even a year (I did not say "I told you so") and he did get his MBA from Northwestern. For several years he worked in New York on Wall Street but finally came back to Kansas City and had a real estate company and did investments. Six months ago he married a gal named Lauren who was going to law school. He seemed happy with his life which was really all I cared about.
I filled him in on the last eleven years, seven months and seven days as best I could. He liked that I had two boys and that I had finally graduated from college. My big question for him was why the stupid telegram on the day I got married. He laughed and asked if it got to me.
He said he meant every word that it said, he did want me to be happy and wished me all the best but at the same time why would he stop loving me. He asked if I had stopped loving him and I said no that I always believed you could and did love many people at the same time but maybe in different ways. He actually said he went to Muskogee a few years ago to try to find me but someone else lived in the house and Dad's pharmacy shop was closed.
He walked me out to my car when it was time to get back to the boys. That was when he sang "I'll meet you any time you want at our Italian Restaurant. How about next Thursday?". How could I say no to that?
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