TITLE: The One
AUTHOR: Kerry Johnston
EMAIL: Kerry316uk2001@yahoo.co.uk
RATING: Ummm suitable for all I guess
CONTENT: Not sure yet, may be some swearing
SPOILERS: None
SUMMARY: I move to New York and my whole life changes
DISCLAIMER: I own this story and I own myself. The McMahon's own themselves
and everyone else belongs to WWE.
DISTRIBUTION: Please ask if you wish to put it up elsewhere.
Before you start reading I would just like to say that everything in this story is going to be true one day, I will be a qualified nurse I will live and work in New York City. I would love it if the other parts become true too but I realize that is very unlikely, then again you should never say never, perhaps it might come true one day!! Please don't think I'm crazy, just a little infatuated with him. If you're confused well, you'll soon find out.
The First Meeting
Now here I was sitting in a bar in New York, just three months after I had made that very announcement. I had only been living in New York for two weeks and I loved it, I loved the life, the people, and being a typical girl, I loved the shopping. I had made a couple of friends with some people who lived in my building, where my apartment was and they were so friendly and welcoming. I was due to start my job next Wednesday, I had been to meet the team at the hospital and they all seemed very nice and friendly.
It was a Friday night and I was propping up the bar, where I was talking to the barman there. I wasn't expecting anyone to join me, I just wanted to get out and sample the night life that New York had to offer. Mind you, I had picked a quiet bar where there wasn't a lot happening, but I liked it. The barman went off to serve a couple who had just walked in and a man came up next to me. A barmaid came over to serve him.
"Three Carling's, a glass of white wine, and an orange juice please."
"Coming up." The barmaid replied.
I didn't take much notice of him at first but as he spoke his voice sounded strangely familiar I slowly turned my head towards him and gasped. I quickly adverted my gaze, it took all I had not to fall off my bar stool.
"Oh my crap!" I thought. "Shane McMahon, the guy whose face once plastered my bedroom walls! I must be dreaming." I slowly looked at him again, he turned suddenly, as if he knew he was being watched, smiled and nodded his head at me. I smiled back and quickly turned away.
"Oh my god! Shane McMahon just smiled me." I wanted to shout. I calmed myself down and forced myself to breathe slowly. In the past couple of years I had fell out of wrestling but from 16 through to 21 wrestling was my passion, I loved watching it, I loved the athleticism and the skill involved in it. It was my job more than anything that had come between me and wrestling, because of the shift pattern. I rarely had time to watch it and in the end just gave up. While everyone else who watched it loved actual wrestlers like The Rock, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton and Chris Jericho, I was different I loved the bosses' son - Shane O Mac as he had been known. Everyone used to ask - why him? And to be honest I never knew, I just do I used to reply, there was something different about him. With others I could only see the characters they were playing, with Shane I felt as if I knew the real person, I used to imagine what it would be like to be his girlfriend. I could imagine myself having conversations with him, I was totally besotted by him and always jealous of his wife - Marissa. I never wished any harm against her but I just wished she wasn't married to Shane McMahon.
"Do you want a drink?" He asked.
I turned my head towards him and hung my mouth open like some 10 year old who had just met her boy-band crush. "Uhh ummm." I couldn't get the words out. "He must think I'm such an idiot!" I thought to myself, I could feel my face going red as the silence went on longer. "I'll uhh; I'll have a vodka and red bull please." I noticed he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, "what does that mean?" I wondered to myself.
"And a vodka and red bull please."
The barmaid nodded.
"So, you're not from around these parts?" Shane asked.
"No I'm from Suffolk, England. I just moved here two weeks ago."
"Wow, must be a big change."
"Yeah it is, but I love it so far."
"I'm Shane, by the way, Shane McMahon." He held out his hand.
I shook it as I replied; "I know, I used to be totally in love with wrestling. You were one of my favourites. I'm Kerry Johnston."
He laughed. "Hello, Kerry. So you don't like it anymore?"
"Because of my job, I work shifts, I just don't get the time to watch it anymore. It's a shame, wrestling was my passion from when I sixteen through to twenty-one."
Shane nodded. "Oh right, so what do you do?"
"I'm a nurse." I replied nervously.
"A nurse, yeah I can see you as a nurse."
I laughed. "Everybody has always said that, apparently I look like one. I've never wanted to do anything else; I always wanted to be a nurse ever since I can remember."
"I feel the same about my job, I'm president of New Media in WWE. I always wanted to work for WWE ever since I was small."
I smiled, I was going to tell him I knew what he did, that I traced his every footstep but I decided not to, I didn't want him to think I was some sort of mad stalker.
"Are you waiting for anyone?" He asked with interest.
I shook my head, "I just wanted to get out of the apartment."
"Do you want to come and join us?" He asked, smiling.
"Who's us?" I asked curiously.
He nodded over to where he was sitting. "My parents, my sister, and my brother in-law."
"Oh my god, I'm surprised you all haven't been plagued by fans."
"It's not too bad in here, we come quite often."
"Will they mind?" I wondered.
"Nah, the more the merrier."
"Ok," I got off the bar stool while Shane picked up the tray full of drinks.
He began to walk and I followed him nervously, I didn't know what to expect. They all looked up as we walked over to them.
"Everybody this is Kerry, Kerry this is my dad - Vince, my mom - Linda, my sister - Stephanie and my brother in law - Paul."
I smiled and said hello. They all smiled.
"Shane pull up a seat for her, she doesn't want to stand all night." Vince said smiling.
Shane got a seat from another table and I sat down between Linda and Shane.
Linda was the first one to speak. "What do you do for a living?" Linda asked casually as she took a sip of her wine.
"I'm a nurse." I replied, though I was nervous, I said it with pride, I loved what I did and took enormous joy in it.
"That's great; I don't think I could do that." Linda smiled.
"It's not for everybody but it's certainly me. I can honestly say I love what I do, I like the difference it makes in people's lives, whether they realize it or not." I replied.
Linda nodded. "You certainly are in the firing line, not everyone appreciates the role that nurses play."
"You've got that right; it's just the odd few who take it a bit too far though, thank goodness."
"Do you come from England?" Asked Stephanie suddenly.
"Yes I do, I just moved here two weeks ago." I looked at her properly for the first time and noticed she was pregnant.
"Do you like it?" Paul asked.
"Yeah I do, it's brilliant. I love the shopping."
Everyone laughed.
"It certainly is fantastic, I love shopping here when I have the time." Linda spoke with enthusiasm.
Vince groaned. "Please don't get her started on shopping; she won't stop once she starts."
Linda turned round and playfully punched him. "I don't know what you're complaining about; I always buy you something."
We all chatted merrily and before I knew it three hours had gone by. We had discussed WWE, and I had asked them a lot of questions but they didn't seem to tire of it. They asked questions about me, my family, why I moved. By the end of the evening I'd even asked Stephanie about her pregnancy. As I had suspected it was her first and her and Paul had been married for five years.
"Gosh, look at the time." I said. "I should be going; I'll never get up in the morning!"
It was 11:30 and not one of us had realized the time.
"Where do you live?" Shane asked.
"In 'The Village'." I replied as I finished up the last of my drink.
"That's miles away, I'll walk you home." He offered.
"I'll be fine, honestly." I reassured him.
"I insist. I will not let you walk alone at night in New York City. You're new; you don't know the dangers yet. Besides I only live in the building opposite."
"Well, in that case. great, thank you." I said astounded. "Shane is going to walk me home!" I thought to myself, "My mum isn't going to believe this when I tell her." She knew how crazy I had been about Shane. Like any other normal girl I'd had my fair share of crush's on celebrities, David Beckham, members of Take That and Boyzone. But when I discovered Shane O Mac - man o man - that was something different. I was infatuated, besotted and dare I admit - perhaps I was even in love with him? I used to get butterflies in my stomach every time I would think about him and when I saw him on TV I went crazy and couldn't stop smiling for days after but there was no chance in hell that I was ever going to admit that to him.
"Ok." Shane said getting up. "Let's hit the bricks. I'll see you guys tomorrow at the office." Shane said to his parents. "And you two look after my nephew." He said to Shane and Paul.
"How do you know it's not a niece?" Stephanie asked.
"It's a boy." Shane said with a lot of conviction.
We all said our goodbyes and I said thank you for letting me join them and that it had been a pleasure.
Shane and I got out onto the street and he offered me his arm.
"My, my you are the perfect gentleman." I giggled.
"I know, there's not many of us left you know." He said with that dazzling smile that I had grown up dreaming about.
We walked in silence for a while until I finally plucked up the courage to ask him. "Umm I hope I'm not being too nosy here but I couldn't help wondering. I know you were married to a woman called Marissa, where was she tonight?" I was expecting him to say at home, looking after the baby or something. I knew they hadn't had children for the years I followed his every movement but I wasn't expecting the answer he gave me.
"Uhh, we divorced about three years ago now."
"Oh god, I'm sorry, I didn't realize. Me and my big mouth!" I was so stupid, why did I even ask him in the first place? What did I care about his marriage? I thought, cursing my own stupidity.
"It's fine." Shane reassured me with a smile on his face. "I don't mind, I'm used to people asking. Not a lot of people do realise. We drifted apart; I didn't get my heart broken or anything. Neither of us knew just how much we had changed and how distant we had become until it was too late. It was a mutual decision; she's since remarried and had a baby. I don't see anything of her anymore apart from when she and I are in Connecticut, our parents live across from each other. It's pretty easy when we do bump into one another, we don't try to kill each other!"
I listened intently as he spoke. I couldn't believe they divorced, past interviews with Shane and the way he spoke of her just made me think it was for life.
He continued. "I don't think it came as a big surprise to our families, it was though they had expected it. I think they saw it happening long before me and Marissa did. It was like one day I just looked at her and realized that I didn't love her, it was so strange."
I looked at him and he seemed lost in his own thoughts. "I should imagine it was very hard."
Shane nodded, "At first but after a week, after she'd moved out I didn't feel much, a sense of relief if anything. But enough about me, what about you?"
"What about me?" I asked shyly.
"Your history, I think that someone as beautiful as you has her pick of men."
I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing important, a couple of boyfriends, nothing serious. I've never been in love if that's what you're asking."
"How old are you? If you don't mind me asking?" He said quietly.
"I don't mind at all, I'm twenty three."
"I thought you looked about that age, plenty of time for serious relationships."
"Yep," I agreed.
"So what do you look for in a guy?" He asked seriously.
I raised my eyebrows in question. "What do you want to know that for?"
Shane shrugged his shoulders. "I was just wondering, sorry if that's too personal."
"No, it's ok. You know for someone I only met about four hours ago I'm completely at ease with you." I admitted, it was strange I never was so open and talked as much with someone I had only just met. Usually I was very shy and quiet and I'd have to get to know a person well before I became myself.
Shane's brown eyes bore into me. "I feel the same." He smiled as he said it.
I felt an electric current run through me, the likes of which I had never experienced.
"So come on then. What do you look for in a guy?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Looks don't bother me, although handsome is nice. I know everybody says it but the personality is the important thing. He has to be nice, smart, good, kind, compassionate." I got lost in my own thoughts. "But you know what; above all that he has to be crazy about me. I want him to think I'm the best thing in his life, that he can't live without me, every morning when he wakes up and sees me beside him I want him to think just how goddamn lucky he is to have found me. This might sound crazy but I want a man who would swim across the Atlantic because he cared for me. I suppose I'm saying that I want a guy who loves me with everything he's got, with all his heart and who I love just as much back." I smiled in embarrassment at him as I realized how carried away I had got. To my surprise he was smiling back. "That probably sounds really stupid."
"Not at all." Shane said, still looking at me. "I know how you feel, I hope you find it one day."
We walked the rest of the way in silence arm in arm. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Shane look at me occasionally when he thought I would not notice. I smiled to myself, thinking that when I was nineteen as soon as I saw him I would have dropped down dead a heart attack but now, being all grown up, I could actually have a conversation with him.
"Well, here we are." I said as we stopped just outside my building.
"Yeah, here we are." Shane said nervously. "Look, I just want to say I had a great time tonight, it was really nice meeting you."
"You too." I nodded.
"God I feel like a teenager, so I'm just going to come straight out with it. Would you mind giving me your phone number and perhaps we could go out on a date sometime?" He smiled at me, slightly blushing.
I returned the smile and tried not to explode with excitement. "I would really like that."
I wrote both my mobile and home phone number down for him and he said he call me tomorrow. I told him to be careful walking back to his building, even though it was only across the road.
He laughed, "I'm sure I'll be fine."
I smiled. "Well I'll see you again sometime."
"Definitely." He nodded. He bent down and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Bye."
"Seeya." I said as I watched him walk away.
Before you start reading I would just like to say that everything in this story is going to be true one day, I will be a qualified nurse I will live and work in New York City. I would love it if the other parts become true too but I realize that is very unlikely, then again you should never say never, perhaps it might come true one day!! Please don't think I'm crazy, just a little infatuated with him. If you're confused well, you'll soon find out.
The First Meeting
Now here I was sitting in a bar in New York, just three months after I had made that very announcement. I had only been living in New York for two weeks and I loved it, I loved the life, the people, and being a typical girl, I loved the shopping. I had made a couple of friends with some people who lived in my building, where my apartment was and they were so friendly and welcoming. I was due to start my job next Wednesday, I had been to meet the team at the hospital and they all seemed very nice and friendly.
It was a Friday night and I was propping up the bar, where I was talking to the barman there. I wasn't expecting anyone to join me, I just wanted to get out and sample the night life that New York had to offer. Mind you, I had picked a quiet bar where there wasn't a lot happening, but I liked it. The barman went off to serve a couple who had just walked in and a man came up next to me. A barmaid came over to serve him.
"Three Carling's, a glass of white wine, and an orange juice please."
"Coming up." The barmaid replied.
I didn't take much notice of him at first but as he spoke his voice sounded strangely familiar I slowly turned my head towards him and gasped. I quickly adverted my gaze, it took all I had not to fall off my bar stool.
"Oh my crap!" I thought. "Shane McMahon, the guy whose face once plastered my bedroom walls! I must be dreaming." I slowly looked at him again, he turned suddenly, as if he knew he was being watched, smiled and nodded his head at me. I smiled back and quickly turned away.
"Oh my god! Shane McMahon just smiled me." I wanted to shout. I calmed myself down and forced myself to breathe slowly. In the past couple of years I had fell out of wrestling but from 16 through to 21 wrestling was my passion, I loved watching it, I loved the athleticism and the skill involved in it. It was my job more than anything that had come between me and wrestling, because of the shift pattern. I rarely had time to watch it and in the end just gave up. While everyone else who watched it loved actual wrestlers like The Rock, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton and Chris Jericho, I was different I loved the bosses' son - Shane O Mac as he had been known. Everyone used to ask - why him? And to be honest I never knew, I just do I used to reply, there was something different about him. With others I could only see the characters they were playing, with Shane I felt as if I knew the real person, I used to imagine what it would be like to be his girlfriend. I could imagine myself having conversations with him, I was totally besotted by him and always jealous of his wife - Marissa. I never wished any harm against her but I just wished she wasn't married to Shane McMahon.
"Do you want a drink?" He asked.
I turned my head towards him and hung my mouth open like some 10 year old who had just met her boy-band crush. "Uhh ummm." I couldn't get the words out. "He must think I'm such an idiot!" I thought to myself, I could feel my face going red as the silence went on longer. "I'll uhh; I'll have a vodka and red bull please." I noticed he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, "what does that mean?" I wondered to myself.
"And a vodka and red bull please."
The barmaid nodded.
"So, you're not from around these parts?" Shane asked.
"No I'm from Suffolk, England. I just moved here two weeks ago."
"Wow, must be a big change."
"Yeah it is, but I love it so far."
"I'm Shane, by the way, Shane McMahon." He held out his hand.
I shook it as I replied; "I know, I used to be totally in love with wrestling. You were one of my favourites. I'm Kerry Johnston."
He laughed. "Hello, Kerry. So you don't like it anymore?"
"Because of my job, I work shifts, I just don't get the time to watch it anymore. It's a shame, wrestling was my passion from when I sixteen through to twenty-one."
Shane nodded. "Oh right, so what do you do?"
"I'm a nurse." I replied nervously.
"A nurse, yeah I can see you as a nurse."
I laughed. "Everybody has always said that, apparently I look like one. I've never wanted to do anything else; I always wanted to be a nurse ever since I can remember."
"I feel the same about my job, I'm president of New Media in WWE. I always wanted to work for WWE ever since I was small."
I smiled, I was going to tell him I knew what he did, that I traced his every footstep but I decided not to, I didn't want him to think I was some sort of mad stalker.
"Are you waiting for anyone?" He asked with interest.
I shook my head, "I just wanted to get out of the apartment."
"Do you want to come and join us?" He asked, smiling.
"Who's us?" I asked curiously.
He nodded over to where he was sitting. "My parents, my sister, and my brother in-law."
"Oh my god, I'm surprised you all haven't been plagued by fans."
"It's not too bad in here, we come quite often."
"Will they mind?" I wondered.
"Nah, the more the merrier."
"Ok," I got off the bar stool while Shane picked up the tray full of drinks.
He began to walk and I followed him nervously, I didn't know what to expect. They all looked up as we walked over to them.
"Everybody this is Kerry, Kerry this is my dad - Vince, my mom - Linda, my sister - Stephanie and my brother in law - Paul."
I smiled and said hello. They all smiled.
"Shane pull up a seat for her, she doesn't want to stand all night." Vince said smiling.
Shane got a seat from another table and I sat down between Linda and Shane.
Linda was the first one to speak. "What do you do for a living?" Linda asked casually as she took a sip of her wine.
"I'm a nurse." I replied, though I was nervous, I said it with pride, I loved what I did and took enormous joy in it.
"That's great; I don't think I could do that." Linda smiled.
"It's not for everybody but it's certainly me. I can honestly say I love what I do, I like the difference it makes in people's lives, whether they realize it or not." I replied.
Linda nodded. "You certainly are in the firing line, not everyone appreciates the role that nurses play."
"You've got that right; it's just the odd few who take it a bit too far though, thank goodness."
"Do you come from England?" Asked Stephanie suddenly.
"Yes I do, I just moved here two weeks ago." I looked at her properly for the first time and noticed she was pregnant.
"Do you like it?" Paul asked.
"Yeah I do, it's brilliant. I love the shopping."
Everyone laughed.
"It certainly is fantastic, I love shopping here when I have the time." Linda spoke with enthusiasm.
Vince groaned. "Please don't get her started on shopping; she won't stop once she starts."
Linda turned round and playfully punched him. "I don't know what you're complaining about; I always buy you something."
We all chatted merrily and before I knew it three hours had gone by. We had discussed WWE, and I had asked them a lot of questions but they didn't seem to tire of it. They asked questions about me, my family, why I moved. By the end of the evening I'd even asked Stephanie about her pregnancy. As I had suspected it was her first and her and Paul had been married for five years.
"Gosh, look at the time." I said. "I should be going; I'll never get up in the morning!"
It was 11:30 and not one of us had realized the time.
"Where do you live?" Shane asked.
"In 'The Village'." I replied as I finished up the last of my drink.
"That's miles away, I'll walk you home." He offered.
"I'll be fine, honestly." I reassured him.
"I insist. I will not let you walk alone at night in New York City. You're new; you don't know the dangers yet. Besides I only live in the building opposite."
"Well, in that case. great, thank you." I said astounded. "Shane is going to walk me home!" I thought to myself, "My mum isn't going to believe this when I tell her." She knew how crazy I had been about Shane. Like any other normal girl I'd had my fair share of crush's on celebrities, David Beckham, members of Take That and Boyzone. But when I discovered Shane O Mac - man o man - that was something different. I was infatuated, besotted and dare I admit - perhaps I was even in love with him? I used to get butterflies in my stomach every time I would think about him and when I saw him on TV I went crazy and couldn't stop smiling for days after but there was no chance in hell that I was ever going to admit that to him.
"Ok." Shane said getting up. "Let's hit the bricks. I'll see you guys tomorrow at the office." Shane said to his parents. "And you two look after my nephew." He said to Shane and Paul.
"How do you know it's not a niece?" Stephanie asked.
"It's a boy." Shane said with a lot of conviction.
We all said our goodbyes and I said thank you for letting me join them and that it had been a pleasure.
Shane and I got out onto the street and he offered me his arm.
"My, my you are the perfect gentleman." I giggled.
"I know, there's not many of us left you know." He said with that dazzling smile that I had grown up dreaming about.
We walked in silence for a while until I finally plucked up the courage to ask him. "Umm I hope I'm not being too nosy here but I couldn't help wondering. I know you were married to a woman called Marissa, where was she tonight?" I was expecting him to say at home, looking after the baby or something. I knew they hadn't had children for the years I followed his every movement but I wasn't expecting the answer he gave me.
"Uhh, we divorced about three years ago now."
"Oh god, I'm sorry, I didn't realize. Me and my big mouth!" I was so stupid, why did I even ask him in the first place? What did I care about his marriage? I thought, cursing my own stupidity.
"It's fine." Shane reassured me with a smile on his face. "I don't mind, I'm used to people asking. Not a lot of people do realise. We drifted apart; I didn't get my heart broken or anything. Neither of us knew just how much we had changed and how distant we had become until it was too late. It was a mutual decision; she's since remarried and had a baby. I don't see anything of her anymore apart from when she and I are in Connecticut, our parents live across from each other. It's pretty easy when we do bump into one another, we don't try to kill each other!"
I listened intently as he spoke. I couldn't believe they divorced, past interviews with Shane and the way he spoke of her just made me think it was for life.
He continued. "I don't think it came as a big surprise to our families, it was though they had expected it. I think they saw it happening long before me and Marissa did. It was like one day I just looked at her and realized that I didn't love her, it was so strange."
I looked at him and he seemed lost in his own thoughts. "I should imagine it was very hard."
Shane nodded, "At first but after a week, after she'd moved out I didn't feel much, a sense of relief if anything. But enough about me, what about you?"
"What about me?" I asked shyly.
"Your history, I think that someone as beautiful as you has her pick of men."
I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing important, a couple of boyfriends, nothing serious. I've never been in love if that's what you're asking."
"How old are you? If you don't mind me asking?" He said quietly.
"I don't mind at all, I'm twenty three."
"I thought you looked about that age, plenty of time for serious relationships."
"Yep," I agreed.
"So what do you look for in a guy?" He asked seriously.
I raised my eyebrows in question. "What do you want to know that for?"
Shane shrugged his shoulders. "I was just wondering, sorry if that's too personal."
"No, it's ok. You know for someone I only met about four hours ago I'm completely at ease with you." I admitted, it was strange I never was so open and talked as much with someone I had only just met. Usually I was very shy and quiet and I'd have to get to know a person well before I became myself.
Shane's brown eyes bore into me. "I feel the same." He smiled as he said it.
I felt an electric current run through me, the likes of which I had never experienced.
"So come on then. What do you look for in a guy?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Looks don't bother me, although handsome is nice. I know everybody says it but the personality is the important thing. He has to be nice, smart, good, kind, compassionate." I got lost in my own thoughts. "But you know what; above all that he has to be crazy about me. I want him to think I'm the best thing in his life, that he can't live without me, every morning when he wakes up and sees me beside him I want him to think just how goddamn lucky he is to have found me. This might sound crazy but I want a man who would swim across the Atlantic because he cared for me. I suppose I'm saying that I want a guy who loves me with everything he's got, with all his heart and who I love just as much back." I smiled in embarrassment at him as I realized how carried away I had got. To my surprise he was smiling back. "That probably sounds really stupid."
"Not at all." Shane said, still looking at me. "I know how you feel, I hope you find it one day."
We walked the rest of the way in silence arm in arm. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Shane look at me occasionally when he thought I would not notice. I smiled to myself, thinking that when I was nineteen as soon as I saw him I would have dropped down dead a heart attack but now, being all grown up, I could actually have a conversation with him.
"Well, here we are." I said as we stopped just outside my building.
"Yeah, here we are." Shane said nervously. "Look, I just want to say I had a great time tonight, it was really nice meeting you."
"You too." I nodded.
"God I feel like a teenager, so I'm just going to come straight out with it. Would you mind giving me your phone number and perhaps we could go out on a date sometime?" He smiled at me, slightly blushing.
I returned the smile and tried not to explode with excitement. "I would really like that."
I wrote both my mobile and home phone number down for him and he said he call me tomorrow. I told him to be careful walking back to his building, even though it was only across the road.
He laughed, "I'm sure I'll be fine."
I smiled. "Well I'll see you again sometime."
"Definitely." He nodded. He bent down and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Bye."
"Seeya." I said as I watched him walk away.