The Lighthouse

Fairy tales don't always come true. Despite what romantic movies tell us, there's not always the happily ever after. Of course audiences wouldn't plop down their money if the movie industry suddenly started showing the truth about what happens after a couple is married. Take my soon to be ex-husband. We got married and everything seemed to be great, until I came home one day and found him playing Twister with a strange woman, without any clothes on.

After I caught him cheating on me, he tried to say that men didn't know how to be monogamous, that it was unnatural. To say that I filed for divorce faster than you can say pre-nup would be an understatement. Yet there was a real part of me that didn't want to give up on my marriage so easily. A voice in my head tried to convince me that everybody is allowed one mistake and that it wasn't worth ruining our lives over one little dalliance. Then Destiny smacked me on the back of my head, and told me that he had been sticking it to her as well.

A knock on my door, drew me out of these thoughts. In the months since I had filed for divorce, my social life had dried up. In a small town, it didn't matter what your spouse did, you had to stay married. So when I ended my marriage, Eric had become the victim and I was the bitch who broke his heart. Even my Mother quit talking to me, with the exception of leaving puzzles on my door. I swung the door open, and found yet another puzzle box waiting for me. This one had a note attached to it. "Assemble and figure out your destiny."

Since there was a cat on the box, I knew exactly what message was being sent to me. My Mom assumed that there was no chance for me to find another man and I would end up alone, with only an army of cats to keep me company. I decided to call her and give her a piece of my mind. After 3 rings, she answered out of breath. "Hello."

"Hi Mom, I got your little present. Why do you insist on making me feel bad about divorcing Eric? He cheated on me and you taught me to have respect for myself."

"Andrea, I know that you think my life revolves around you but I do have a life. Maybe if you didn't feel so bad about leaving your husband for passing his sausage around, you could appreciate the fact that everyone has been trying to support you." Gone was the breathiness from when she answered the phone, it was replaced by the stern Mom voice. Every ounce of energy left my body and I collapsed onto the couch. "Now I have a date with Mr. Rodgers, so if you will excuse me, I need to get ready."

After she hung up, I threw my phone down. It was a shallow victory that she didn't ask why I didn't go back to my high school sweetheart Robin or the first guy I dated in college Travis. For some reason she didn't get that Travis was gay and that I lost contact with Robin. There was no reason for me to go back into the past, I needed to look forward and learn to live on my own again.

Part of that was entertaining myself for the evening. There was nothing good on TV, and I'm not much of a reader, that left putting together the puzzle. I poured a glass of wine as dumped the pieces out of the box. There was another note inside of the box that read "Monday 8pm."

My mind went blank as I put the puzzle together. Much to my surprise it wasn't a picture of cats but rather a lighthouse. Somebody wanted to meet me at the lighthouse but who? That's when I realized that my phone had been buzzing. There were five missed calls from Eric, and a text message. "We need to talk."

The weekend passed by in a blur. Monday saw me calling off of work, and getting ready to meet my ex-husband. At one point during the weekend, I convinced myself that he wanted me back and that I was willing to give him another chance. This time though, we needed to have a serious talk about what it meant to be married.

A cool breeze blew through my hair as I climbed up the stairs. I was wearing a yellow sundress that clung to my body like saran wrap. Once I reached the top, I found Eric waiting there in a tuxedo. He looked at me confused, "Andrea? What are you doing here?"

"I got your message that we needed to talk. While I have thought about reconciling with you, I just can't do it. You cheated on me and that's not something that I can easily get over."

"I'm sorry, there is no way in hell I would get back together with you! I am prime meat, now that you divorced me. Destiny is meeting me here, so we can have a romantic rendezvous before she goes home to her husband." His smirk made me want to throw him off of the lighthouse. For a second I enjoyed the daydream.

"Eric didn't send you the message, I did." I looked up and was shocked to see Robin standing in front of the stairwell, with flowers in his hands. Age had been very kind to him and butterflies seemed to have taken a home in my stomach. "A long time ago, we made a deal that we would try a relationship again, if we were both single when we turned 35."

"How in the world did you remember that?"

"I remember everything about you. I loved you in high school and have loved you every day since." Maybe I was wrong, maybe happy endings do exist.