#threeplusone

7 years, 2 months, and 25 days ago I met a guy. He was taken. I never thought twice about him, until I got the call. He was at our mutual friends house wanting me to come over a week later. I was across state lines with my 'refuse to make it official but you can't be with anyone else' guy. I let it go and didn't think about him again. That is until he text me from his own phone in the middle of the next week. I jumped my friends case about giving out my number. Asked him if this guy was for real or if I needed to sleep with one eye open. You see, I wasn't the type that got a lot of attention from guys, at least not the right kind of attention. So instead of being flattered at being chased I immediately got suspicious. My friend assured me he was harmless. So I text him back.

Fast forward a couple of days...we hang out for the day, back roading, listening to music and just talking. I really liked this guy. He was sweet. He listened to me and didn't seem to mind that I talked too much. Didn't hurt that he was really cute too. Only there was a problem, he had a girlfriend and two kids.

Now before you jump to conclusions about him or me, let me finish the story. We, at this point, were just friends. I was majorly crushing on him but I am no home wrecker. My momma raised me better than that. When I realized he was crushing back I gave him a choice, her or me. That may seem heartless considering they had kids together. It's not I promise. It had been over in his eyes long before.

See, I had actually met him two years before at a friends birthday party. He was there with his girlfriend. He had this look on his face. Like please help me I'm drowning and I don't know what to do. She wasn't very nice at all. That night our mutual friend had explained the type of person she was and that they had just had a kid together (This would be kid #1, known sincerely to me now as the boy). I thought to myself kudos to you for sticking around for your kid.

Now back to my ultimatum. I knew he had kids. I knew he had a girlfriend. That is why I told him I wouldn't see him again until he figured out what he wanted to do. He went back one last time to end things with her. He came back the next day and we hung out. Things were great, until the night of our first date.

Our first date. I had to pick him up. Being the kind hearted guy he is, he left their only vehicle with her because she had the kids. I show up to his work that Friday. I wait in the car for 30 minutes. He finally calls me and I didn't expect what he had to say.

"She's here." He said.

"Who's here?" I replied.

"The kids mom. She's parked next to you," he answered.

Great. I locked my doors. From the very few conversations with people about her, I was scared. It was another 30 minutes before he even braved stepping foot out of that office. Knowing now what I didn't know then, I would have hid too. Apparently she thought he was kidding when he said he was moving out of town because they were done. Somehow she talked him into going to Wal-Mart to cash his check so she could have money for the kids. He should have known better. 

I waited in Wal-Mart parking lot for 2 hours! Two hours and not a sign of him. His phone was off. Like a dog that just got dumped, I sat there in probably the most dangerous Wal-Mart parking lot in the state waiting for his return. He was gone.