A/N Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing and favorite-ing. If I could, I'd send each of you a lovely Lemon Drop Martini. That first date really went off the rails. Let's see if our couple is able to make-up and try again.
As soon as Beth heard him go out the front door she rushed from the bathroom and grabbed the phone.
Maggie picked up on the first ring, "Beth it's after eleven, what's wrong?"
Beth was still sniffling, "I don't know what happened Maggie, everything went so wrong and I just wanted it to go right. I wanted that so much."
"I'll be right over and you better have a bottle of wine for me." Beth loved Maggie's style, she often wished she could be more like her sister.
Glenn was staring at his wife, "What? Is everything okay?"
Maggie gave him a little smile and shrugged one shoulder, "The girl finally goes on a date and it sounds like things didn't go so well. I'm sorry, I know you had your heart set on some romance, I promise I'll make it up to you when I get home."
"Yeah well after you drink that bottle of wine no driving, call me to come get you," He smiled, and rolled over.
Beth must have been standing at the door because the second she knocked, it opened. The first thing Maggie did was scold her, "Beth when someone knocks on your door at close to midnight you should at least take the time to ask who it is."
"I knew it was you," and she threw her arms around her big sister.
"Okay, first things first. Let's get me something to drink, what did you come up with?" Maggie, had a way of making Beth smile no matter what.
"I opened one of those bottles of wine you keep here," Beth was smiling now.
"Good girl, I'll pour, here's a silly question, do you want some?"
"No Maggie, I drank two martinis tonight, that's part of what went wrong."
"Seriously? My baby sister who never drinks was throwing back martinis? I can't wait to hear the details."
Maggie got her wine and they cozied up in the little chairs. "Alright Bethie spill, and I mean from the beginning. And no more playing coy because the first thing I want to know is, who's the mystery man?"
Maggie watched Beth's face turn pink, and she swallowed hard, "It was the county sheriff, Rick Grimes."
"Are you kidding me Beth?! He's the hottest guy around! But everyone knows he doesn't date. Wait, that must make you the woman who changed his mind. Well, well, now I want the whole story from the first time you saw him until you called me. And I mean I want it all. I left a warm bed and a hot husband to come over here and drink this wine."
Beth couldn't help but laugh, "Okay, okay…"
And Beth told her the whole story, even the part that made her so embarrassed she thought she'd die.
Maggie quietly listened, right through the first glass and halfway through the second. When Beth was done her sister got up and gave her a hug. She knelt down in front of her, "The first thing I'm going to say is, I'm sorry, I've failed you as a sister and as a woman. I should have told you long ago, if you're ever uncomfortable with how a man is touching you, you have to say, 'No.' Maybe if you would have made that clear to Rick he would have stopped. What do you think?"
"I think you're right Maggie, he did ask if it was okay." Beth looked sad.
"These things can happen when two people have a strong attraction and they both really want a relationship. It's easy to get a little over anxious, move too fast. And let's not forget, there was alcohol involved, that always loosens inhibitions. I was guilty of moving way too fast with Glenn, we started with the physical long before the emotional. And I don't even have alcohol to blame. We'll call it bad timing, mixed with bad judgement."
"Anyway, it seems there's enough fault to go around. Rick probably shouldn't have bought you two martinis when he knew you never drink, and he should have backed off when you seemed unsure. And Beth, you never drink, you should have stopped at one martini, and tried to eat something whether or not you found the food appealing. Most important, you should have simply told him 'no.' So now I have to ask you this, do you wish you could erase this date and start all over again?"
"More than anything. I wish I had it to do over again, I wouldn't mess it up so badly. I'm sure he'll never ask me out again though, I was awful. First I got drunk, then I practically let him undress me. I don't even know how to act in a situation like that, so like a big baby I panicked and locked myself in the bathroom. I wouldn't even talk to him. Now I don't know if I could ever look him in the eye again."
Maggie took in a deep breath, "Beth think about it, Rick tried to talk to you, that's a good sign. He could have just bolted out the door when you went in the bathroom. That tells me he's probably sorry about the whole incident, he feels bad. At the very least he wanted to see if you were okay, he wanted to talk to you about what happened. It's too bad you were too upset to talk, you two could have probably fixed this if you would have both just been honest."
"I also have to say in the sheriffs' defense, it probably never occurred to him a woman your age would be as naïve as you are. Right or wrong, by the time someone's 22 most people just assume you've been around a little. If his m.o. is to show up every weekday at the bakery, and he doesn't show up Monday, that's probably not a good sign. If he does, I think it means he'd like to see you again."
xxxx
Rick barely got a wink of sleep. He just lay there wondering how the hell everything started off so good and went so bad. He'd wanted to impress her, wine and dine her, let her know he was interested. He hadn't planned on just jumping in bed with her, he'd had every intention of taking this slow. But damn, she was so sweet and nice, and so pretty, and he just wanted that closeness with her. He'd fucked this up royally and he knew it. If only she would have talked to him, given him a chance to apologize, maybe he could have convinced her to give him another chance.
He took Carl to church and then out for their usual Sunday morning pancakes. It was a tradition they'd begun after Lori died. He'd started taking Carl to church thinking it might be good for him, might help him deal with the loss of his mother. As it turned out, it helped them both. The pancakes afterward seemed like a good tradition to start too, and it was, it was something they always did together, and something they both looked forward to.
After they'd had their pancakes, Carl asked if he could go to the park to hang out with his buddy Duane. "Sure son, but I'm going to come by and get you in exactly two hours. I want us to have some time together today, throw the football around, or maybe go to the batting cages. How does that sound?"
"The batting cages sound awesome Dad, let's do that." Rick loved it when his son smiled that happy, enthusiastic smile. After Lori died it seemed like months before he could get a real smile out of Carl.
As soon as he dropped his son at the park, an idea came to him. He needed to talk, talk to someone he trusted, someone who gave sound advice. He figured his old mentor, the retired sheriff Dale Horvath, would be home and he drove over to his place.
Dale was the only person, besides Rick's psychologist, who knew the real story about Rick, Lori and Shane.
Lori had told Rick that morning, she and Shane had been having an affair for six months. She wanted a divorce. Talk about a punch to the gut. Rick had been devastated, they'd fought. Lori told him she was going for a ride while he calmed down, but that had to have been planned. Shane was already waiting out front in his pick up.
A few hours later there was a knock at the door. It was a state trooper there to inform Rick that his wife, and his best friend, had been involved in a horrific multi-car accident. Both died at the scene.
Rick had so many emotions, he was so angry at them, so hurt, but he'd loved them both and he grieved them both. Plus, he had a seven year old son to care for. He'd confided in Dale, and Dale had suggested family counseling for both Rick and Carl.
They'd gone to counseling for a year, and it helped them enormously.
It had taken a good long while before he'd been ready to date anyone, to risk that closeness with another woman. He'd finally taken a chance and everything had gone to shit. But dammit he really cared about Beth, he desperately wanted another chance, he needed to talk it out.
So as they sat in Dale's den, coffees in hand, he'd laid it all out for him start to finish. It's not like he wasn't plenty ashamed and embarrassed, but if he wasn't honest, how was Dale going to be able to give him any real advice?
The older man listened and when Rick was done he just nodded, "It seems to me you two managed to take a perfectly enjoyable evening and throw a wet blanket on the whole damn thing."
Rick couldn't help but let out a laugh at that, "Yep, that pretty much sums it up."
"I'd say you both have a some blame in what went wrong. It probably should have been obvious to a smart guy like you, with your exceptional skill as an investigator, this woman doesn't have a lot of experience. You may not be her first date, but I'd be willing to bet you're close to it."
"That being said, she probably should have just told you from the get-go she wasn't going to eat any of that damn sushi crap, that's what I'd have told you," they both smiled at that. "And it's apparent she doesn't know how to say 'no.' But dammit Rick, you're an honorable man, when she seemed nervous and unsure you should have stopped and apologized for taking it too far."
"So what I'd say is, if you want another chance with her you're probably going to have to work at it a little. Not because you did something grievously wrong, but because it went wrong and I've got a sneaking hunch she's pretty embarrassed about the whole thing. But son, if you want this, and it's obvious to this old cop you do, work for it, you deserve to find your happiness."
xxxx
Monday morning he showed up at the bakery just like he always did. He ordered his black coffee and his blueberry muffin, and he looked through the little window but she never looked up. Oh he knew that she knew he was there, he could tell by the way her whole face turned red. He just wished he could have had one look at those big blue eyes. He wished he wasn't such a dumbass.
I knew it was him, and I knew he was looking at me, but I couldn't look at him. I'm just so embarrassed, and I'm ashamed, ashamed of myself for not talking to him Saturday night. Like Maggie said, we probably could have worked it out then. Now, I just don't know. I feel so stupid and so childish.
I don't know what to do around men. I did have a boyfriend for a while when I was a senior in high school. His name was Jimmy, we'd known each other a long time, and it was like suddenly we were dating. You know, going to the movies Saturday afternoons, and we went to school sports events together, and even prom.
We were both so awkward and shy, we'd been out four our five times before we held hands. Then the kissing started, just little kisses at first, it was all very safe and innocent. Soon though, the kissing got more serious. Then there was petting, it was all over the clothes touching until that one day in the barn. Jimmy had put his hand up my shirt, rubbing it along my breast, that's when Daddy walked in. It was one of the worst days ever, Daddy was yelling at Jimmy and ran him off, and I was grounded for two months.
Maggie came to talk to me, she told me that's why she left home right out of high school, she loves Daddy, but he's very strict and he doesn't bend. But that's Maggie, Maggie's a free spirit. She takes chances. She's strong willed and she's brave.
She told me if Jimmy really cared for me like he'd told me he did, he would fight for the chance to see me again, any way he could, with or without Daddy's knowledge. But I guess he didn't care enough, because that was the end.
I wasn't comfortable at all with the idea of leaving home. I was baking and selling my creations, breads, pastries, cakes, all sorts of baked goods, to neighbors, family friends and local business. That's how I met Zach. I was making a delivery to Dixon's Auto Garage, someone had sent a birthday cake as a surprise to one of the mechanics. Zach and I got friendly and started to date.
He was handsome and funny, and at first very nice. We got pretty serious, lots of kissing, and some petting, but he kept pushing me to do more, and I just wasn't ready. I didn't really think I was in love with him, and I want to be in love before I take that step. He told me I was an immature little tease and he broke up with me. That wasn't even the worst though. He talked a lot about me, told any guy that would listen that I'm frigid, he called me a terrible name, a "prick tease." I was mortified. Then I heard that his boss, Daryl, told him if he didn't knock it off he was fired. I don't really know Daryl Dixon, but I'm grateful to him.
I was twenty then, and I didn't date anyone else until the date with Rick. It seems to me dating is a lot of work and so many things can go wrong. But still, Rick seems so nice, and in spite of what happened, I think he's a gentleman and that if I said 'no,' he would respect that. I think he would stop, and not hold it against me. I certainly don't think he would call me names and tell people bad things about me.
He came in again Tuesday morning, just like every weekday morning and again he looked at her, and again she didn't look up. She tried to look busy, whipping up something in a big bowl, but she also turned red in the face. He was a cop, he knew an avoidance tactic when he saw one.
He came back at lunch and ordered a ham and swiss on rye, and he also handed Rosita an envelope and asked her to please give it to Beth.
Beth waited until she got off work to open it. It was a beautiful card with flowers, ladybugs and butterflies on the front, and on the inside he'd written, "I'm so sorry Beth, I was out of line. Please talk to me. I promise that's all, just talk. Can we go for a walk in the park when you get off Wednesday? Please. Rick"
When he came in the bakery Wednesday morning she still didn't look at him, but Rosita handed him a small envelope, "I guess you're the sheriff, she's the baker and I'm the mailman."
While Rosita counted his change he looked through the window and she was looking at him. She gave him a small smile and then went back to her work. He felt unreasonably happy and excited.
He took off work a little early and he was waiting for her when she got off at 3:00.
"Hi Beth, did you have a nice day at work?" He smiled, and she could feel those butterflies in her tummy.
She was nervous but she willed herself to stay calm, look at him and smile, that made him smile even bigger, "Yes thank you, and how was your day?"
"Ever since I got a note from a certain woman, agreeing to meet me when she got off work, my day's been great, thank you Beth. Thank you for this chance," And he looked at her with those crystal blue eyes, that head tilted a little to the side, and she thought her heart might beat right out of her chest.
They walked the two blocks to the park in a kind of anxious silence, then Rick stopped, looked at her and said, "I'm so sorry Beth, I was out of line. I take full responsibility for all of it, I hope you can forgive me."
"I don't think it was your fault Rick, I think we both made mistakes. I apologize for not talking to you Saturday night. That was wrong of me and I hope you can forgive me." She was just so sweet, he couldn't blame her a bit.
"How about this Beth, can we agree to forgive each other, put that in the past, and maybe try this again?" He gave her a hopeful smile.
"Yes, I'd like that very much."
A/N It looks like our couple will be going on a second date, Yay! Thank you so much for reading, please review. xo