I was in Scotland when I traveled for my company back in the 1980s. It was such a beautiful place I knew I had to figure out how to write a story that included some of what I had seen. This story is the culmination of memories of that special place here in this huge romance story.
My Scottish Connection
By
Paul R. Meredith
Sylvia decided she would call her best friend, Susan Espery,
and see if she could shed any light on the identity of the man who had kissed
her at the party. She checked her watch for the time and quickly realized it
was way too early to call Susan. That girl sleeps in after a long night like
she had, she thought. She’d kill me if I called before two.
Susan Espery was known as something
of a party animal among her group of loyal friends, even though it really
wasn’t deserved. She just seemed to be in the middle of all the action for some
reason, probably because she was outgoing and blended easily with about any
crowd. Sylvia was somewhat more subdued, perhaps even a little bit introverted
compared to the rest of the group she currently hung with. Even though Susan
was known as something of a “wild child” because of her very active lifestyle,
she had the good sense to never allow a situation to get out of control. She
didn’t sleep around as many others she knew and palled around with did. She had
the tendency to stay with one man and be true to him as long as he
reciprocated. She considered herself to be an honorable woman. Her steady date
at the moment was an advertising man named Jack Finch. Jack had his own small
but very powerful and growing advertising business. He was the only man Susan
had been dating for the past five months. Susan seemed to care a lot for Jack,
but she was extremely careful to never let any of her friends know her true feelings.
That was just her way—personal things were private things with her. But in her
mind, Jack Finch was the type of man Susan had always dreamed of marrying
someday.
A few minutes after two on New
Years Day, Sylvia finally called her best friend. “Hi Sue, are you up and
around yet?”
“Been up for hours,” Susan lied.
“How about you?”
“Couldn’t sleep well last night. I
had dreams that kept me awake and jumping around in the bed all night.”
“You’re supposed to dream while you
sleep, not when you’re awake. You’ve got it back asswards, girl,” Susan
quipped. “Were you dreaming about that hunk that kissed the living hell out of
you last night?”
“Now that you mention it, yes, I
did dream about that man—a lot! Who the hell was he? Do you know him, because I
sure don’t?”
“Sure, he’s good friends with my
guy. You know Jack pretty well by now, and Jack told me to tell you he has got
the hots for you—has had ever since he spotted you one day when you stopped in
at my work to see me. I guess he spotted you while you were there at the same
time he was there. Are you sure you don’t know him?”
“I’m not sure I understand. Did you
say Jack has the hots for me?” Sylvia asked, somewhat confused by her lack of
sleep and the way Sue made the remark.
“No dummy, at least I hope not. The
guy that kissed you, the mystery man, silly. He was there that day. He’s the
one that has the hots for you.”
“How could he? I’ve never seen the
man before.”
“Yeah, right. That’s a likely
story. Didn’t you see him that day when you stopped at the restaurant to ask me
about going shopping with you? He was in there with Jack.”
“Honestly Sue, I never laid eyes on
the guy in my life, at least not that I know of anyway. If he saw me, I didn’t
see him. I’ve never seen that man in my life. I would certainly remember him.”
“My God, then why did you kiss him
like that, especially right in front of poor Tom? I have to believe that really
had to piss Tom off. I noticed that you never even bothered to kiss him,” Susan
said. “How did he handle that?”
“Oh God, you’re right. I realized I
never kissed Tom at all; he told me so. He’s got to be really irritated with me
right now.”
“No, you didn’t kiss him, and he
was clearly upset about it. All he could do was watch while you allowed the
other guy to all but have his way with you on the dance floor. Christ, for a
minute there I thought you were going to leave poor Tom and go somewhere to get
a room and crawl in the sack with the guy.”
“Dammit Sue, I thought it was
Tom who turned me around and kissed me at the party, and I closed my eyes to
enjoy the moment. I was as shocked as I could be when I finally opened my eyes
and saw that it wasn’t him at all,” Sylvia explained. “And to make matters
worse, I only saw a fleeting glimpse of the man as he quickly left.”
“Right, I’m sure, so didn’t Tom say
anything at all about it to you?”
Sylvia thought for a second. “Sure,
he had a few words to say about it to me, but he thought I must have known the
man pretty well the way I kissed him so long. And of course he said he never
got to kiss me at all. I felt terrible about that, but by then there was no way
to make it up to him. And yes, I am sure Tom is pissed at me right now.”
“Well, Sylvia, I really think that
Tom must have had the right to say something to you about it, don’t you?”
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