The third time is supposed to be the charm.

I did meet him for a third time, and more after that, or there wouldn’t be a story.

The third time is the one I remembered the most.  We had an all too honest conversation.

This time I was at my office in the outskirts of L.A.   Actually, it was more like the suburbs. It was a small office with just an assistant and myself.  I was an architect.  Small time.   I designed enough to keep my business afloat, but I wasn’t big time by any means.

In the late afternoon, I rolled up my designs that I had been working on to get ready for my last meeting of the day.  This would be my biggest job yet if I was able to land this job.  I pulled up all my ideas for possible designs I had made for the client based upon his specifications.  By the time I had the computer images on my desktop, my assistant came into the room.

“What’s wrong?”  I asked as I took in her appearance.  Cheeks red.  Fidgety.  Shell shocked.  “I..Uh..it’s…”

“Samantha, is my client here?”

She nodded.  “Send him in,”  I said, irritated.  Why had my assistant turned into a ninny all of a sudden?

“Yes, Mrs. Carson.”   She left for a minute and returned, announcing, “Mrs. Carson, Howard Dorough.”

Howard?  I thought I was meeting a Jon Dorough.  I got up to shake his hand and realized it was him.  Again.  Apparently, my assistant was fangirling on him.  She left my office rather quickly.

I still hand my hand outstretched as he walked closer to me.  His kid was still with him.  He shifted James in his arms and shook my hand.  He looked stunned to see me again.  “You know my name.  Do I get your name this time?”  Howie asked.

I realized we hadn’t been properly introduced yet.  “Macy Carson.”

“The M in J&M Designs?”  He asked and settled James into one of the chairs in front of my desk.

“Yes,” I answered.  I hoped he didn’t ask about the “J.”  Instead, he pulled an Ipad out for James who quickly turned the thing on and found an app to play with.  “How old is he?  He’s pretty good at that.”

Howie nodded with pride, “Three.  Almost four.”

“You must really be a hands on Dad,” I said.  When he looked at me, I added, “You’re always with him.  Plane, store, coffee shop, business meeting.  Is there any place you don’t take him?”

“I just like having him close.”  He didn’t elaborate and the look on his face told me he wasn’t going to.

“Is Jon a fake name?”  I asked, once he was settled in the chair.  “I thought I was meeting Jon Dorough?”

“Huh?” He chuckled.  “No.  My brother and business partner.  I forgot he was supposed to be the one at this meeting.  He’s checking in on another one of our projects.  You’re stuck with me today.”

“Oh. Shall we get started?”

Howie nodded.

“This is for a beach front property, right?  A resort hotel.”

Howie nodded again.  “Jon gave you our specifications, right?”

I nodded.  “Yes.”  I fiddled with the projector that I had hooked my computer up to and a few seconds later, my design images appeared on the screen.

I presented my designs one by one.  He nodded thoughtfully at each one, taking notes here and there.  By the time I was finished my presentation,  I noticed two strange things.  While he faked it pretty well, Howie barely paid attention to my presentation.  The other strange thing was that James never once talked, not even in delight when he won a game of whatever he was playing on the Ipad.

“Those were all very nice,” Howie told me when the presentation was over.  “Please email them to me and Jon and we’ll get back to you on the designs.”

“Will I be meeting Jon soon?  Should I continue to email him or you, or both of you?”

“Email both of us.  I’m sure you’ll eventually meet Jon if we go with your designs.”

I nodded.  “I’ll need to know within a week if you want to go with my designs or someone else.”

“That’s fine.”  He looked like he was hesitating in asking something.  He took a deep breath and went for it.  “Your website says this is a husband wife team.  I assume the J in your company name is….”

“Jack,” I said, wanting to avoid the topic all together.  “Jack was his name.  He passed away two years ago,” I touched my wedding band with my thumb like I always did when I thought of Jack.

The things he didn’t say made me realize he knew exactly what I was thinking in that moment.  He didn’t say “sorry for your loss” or anything else that people say when they don’t know what else to say when you lose someone you love.

I had looked down at a picture of Jack and I as I waited for Howie to say some sort of nonsense comfort words.   When they didn’t come, I looked back up into his eyes.  He understood.  “Does it ever get better?  That feeling of…” He couldn’t seem to finish his question.

I shook my head.  “It doesn’t go away.  That empty feeling dulls a little after time, but…sometimes I still swear he’s right here with me.  I miss him like crazy.”

Howie nodded.   “Me too.  I feel like she’s here with me all the time.”

I smiled at him.  “She is.  How long has it been?”

“Three months.”

I glanced at James.  He’d climbed out of his chair and was sitting in Howie’s lap.  He leaned against Howie, trying to keep his eyes open, but failing miserably.  “He’s not dealing with it well, is he?”

Howie cuddled James close to his body and the boy seemed to relax.  “No.  Among other things, he’s stopped talking.”

In that moment, I wanted reach out and hug the little boy.  I felt so bad for him, losing his mom and probably not understanding why.

“You said you had a daughter that night in the store.  How did she…”

“I’m sorry.  I just said that.  I don’t have a daughter or kids.  Just a cat.”

His phone rang then. He shifted James as he grabbed his phone from his pocket,”  I’m sorry, I have to take this.”

“Take it.  I’ll be back.”

“You don’t have to leave,” he said and answered his phone.  “Hey Kev, we’re running late.”

There was a pause in the conversation as I took some files off my desk and out into the reception area.  It was late, Samantha had already gone home.  I put the files that needed filing on her desk.

It must have been a short phone call, because the next thing I knew, Howie, carrying a sleeping James, met me in the reception area.  “I have to go.  It was nice actually talking to you this time.”

“You too.”

As he started to leave the office, I called out, “Howie, if you ever need to just talk to someone who understands, please don’t hesitate.  I know we don’t really know each other, but sometimes, you just need someone to listen, even if they are a stranger.”

“Thanks, Macy.”