Author's note: The title and concept come from a submission from "Not Always Romantic". I just added some prose, changed and added a few pieces of dialogue and added a few character names. Hope you enjoy!
Working in a Hallmark store around Valentine's day is like working in a toy store three days before Christmas. But instead of parents who waited until the last minute to try and find that one toy that every kid just has to have...I have to work with idiot boyfriends who don't know if they'd been in a relationship long enough for a 'lovey-dovey' card or if the funny sound byte card is appropriate to give to his girlfriend in the middle of a formal restaurant.
I seriously don't get paid enough to deal with the idiots who come in here at the last minute and need help figuring out just the right card, chocolate and flower combination to make sure that they're not in the dog house on the big night. Usually I try and impart some sort of wisdom to them, suggesting that they give her more than just the bare minimum and while some of them take it, most of them don't.
So when I saw a tall man in his late twenties, wearing a suit and tie come in to the store 15 minute until my co-worker and I were supposed to leave, I nearly wanted to cry. I'd been there for the past 12 hours, fielding question after question and I hadn't had a break in over 4 hours. But I put on my bravest face and walked up to him.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" He looked up at me strangely and shook his head.
"I'm fine, t-thanks." He stuttered, which I found a little odd but shrugged it off as a first time boyfriend who wanted to do things on his own. But as I began closing up the shop with my co-worker, I noticed that he was still standing there, looking through a bunch of cards, and had a few of them in his hands. He must have been there for 20 minutes trying to pick a card and it was now after closing.
"Can I help you find something?" I asked him.
"No, thanks. Wait… no. No." He sounded so broken, so helpless. It was almost as if he didn't know if he should be getting a card or not. I couldn't help but take pity on him.
"Now that sounds like a cry for help. Talk to me; what's wrong?" I ask him as I look at the cards, and they're all pretty, and they all say 'To the man I love…' He looks down at the floor and refuses to look up at me.
"I can't… I… this couple. We've been having threesomes…" He said and he almost looked ashamed of it. I wanted to reassure him that I didn't care what he did in the bedroom, but he didn't give me a chance. "...and I want to get them something. I love them. Both. So much. But they're married, and they're my best friends, and I don't want to ruin everything." He said siphoning through the 5 cards he had in his hand, probably trying to figure out which was the best one.
"How can a card ruin everything?" My co-worker asked, having overheard his confession. "You think telling people you've been having sex with that you love them will scare them off?" She frowned. She and I had talked about sexual experiences before, and I knew that among the two of us, she was the least likely to judge him for something like this.
"I… don't want to presume." He replied, still unsure and looking so worried.
"Come on, you haven't been standing here for a half hour because it's a bad idea." I tell him. "You know what you want to do. Go for it." I urge him to choose two of the cards in his hand, suggesting two different cards and give him a smile. "I'm sure they'll love these two cards." I tell him, and he finally looks up at me and nods.
"Thank you." He whispers. "I don't know…" I shake my head.
"It's what I'm here for." I tell him and that's when his phone rings. He takes it out and there is a picture of a man on it, his name being "Kurt". I recognized the man, but I wasn't sure from where.
"Hey, Kurt." The man said softly. "Yea… I'm on my way." He licked his lips. "I just… I had to do something beforehand." He said with a smile, and it was clear that the man was in love with the person he was talking to. His whole demeanor changed. He was no longer the scared and jittery man who had walked in the door a half hour ago, but a confident man who was setting up some sort of date for later that night. "I'll be there soon." He promised. "See ya…" He trailed off and took a breath and looked at the two of us.
"Thanks… I guess I should go." He gave us both a small smile and we returned it as he left the shop. My co-worker followed him and locked the door behind him. Once he was gone, she turned to me and I looked at her.
"Did you see that he got two cards saying 'to the man I love?'" I asked her and she nodded.
"Man, now the hot ones are both gay and like, double taken." I laugh and roll my eyes. But then a thought occurred to me. Earlier that day, I saw a man come into the store who had looked remarkably like the guy on the man's phone. I grinned.
"I suddenly have a good feeling about the man who was in here earlier today buying 'for my husband' and a 'for my boyfriend.' cards."