Girl From the Past, Part 1

Tots came home well past ten last Friday night. He had an airsoft meeting plus he had his gun looked over by a bud because it wasn’t shooting right.

Good for him Isaac was still awake. Our baby had just torn a page from the Alphabet book we were reading, much to my horror. And he wouldn’t give it to me either. Any attempt I made to retrieve said book would elicit loud piercing cries of anger. So when Daddy came in and become The Distraction, I was able to sticky tape the tear. Reading time was over for the night anyway.

My husband showed me some messages received earlier that day from an old flame. She was an “almost” girlfriend from early college days before he shifted course and moved to La Salle. I say almost because story goes she liked him a lot. I guess he kinda liked her back but didn’t push it because a bud really liked her too. And so he makes way for the smitten suitor who goes off a-courting until girlaloo was won over. From what Tots tells me, his bud and the girl had a rocky on-off relationship but they ended up marrying a couple of years after college.

Not that any part of the love story is my concern. I didn’t even know Tots then. When we were just dating though, we bumped into her and he introduced me. Nice enough girl, I don’t really know her though. But I still see her around a couple of times. As for her husband, I don’t even know what he looks like.

Anyway, Girl supposedly gives him a call, only to cut it off. Tots is surprised so he texts her. (Yah, she’s listed on his phone.) She replies that she’s in trouble, she’s got a problem and well, she just needed someone to talk to. It takes a couple of exchanged messages before she says in not so many words that her marriage is on the rocks. She was planning to leave Bacolod for the long drive (4 hours) to her hometown, leaving husband, baby and yaya for a couple of days. She said she’d been driving around the city aimlessly for hours and just needed a breather.

That’s so sad. Her son is just a couple months younger than my own boy. To leave your baby, that’s really heavy. Things must really be bad at home. Tots convinces her to take it easy. A long drive late night on a highway headed for mountainous San Carlos, and in her state of mind, could be dangerous. He tells her to go sleep over at a friend’s or go to a pension house or something. This texting continues long after the airsoft meeting is over and Tots is back home.

This girl must have been pretty special to Tots, and at some point I suspect they might have some history, perhaps sometime in college when she and her boyfriend were on one of their off spells. Perhaps also when Tots and I had just started taking our relationship to the serious level some seven years ago. I have no way of knowing unless I ask my husband point blank, but I’m too proud to do that. It’s just a guess, really. The only single incident I remember feeling uneasy about her happened a long time ago. Tots’ new assignment at work required him to go to San Carlos a couple times a week, sometimes spending the night. He mentioned meeting up with her, I just brushed it off. But then I saw something written about her in his secret book of poems, writings and some of the songs he wrote during his band days. Sort of like a diary, one that’s even off limits to me back then. It was by accident that I saw it, I was over for dinner at their house and his notebook was just lying there. I took a peek. I just kept mum about that but it did get me thinking they might be meeting up every time he was up at San Carlos. I forced myself to give my beau the benefit of the doubt; I mean, it could just be innocent coffee chats, right? Then he was reassigned and I guess Girl got married to that guy from college soon after.

Anyway, back to last Friday. Tots was concerned about her driving the long trip back to her hometown. I can say I was too. Depression and curvy highways just don’t mix. Then I heard him muttering something about how he could help her. He texts her a message, to which she replies. Then he says she’s coming over. What the kaboozies? But he was considerate enough to tell me they were just going to sit at the foyer. Well, good, that meant I wouldn’t be forced to say hi. I was already ready for bed and no way was I going to face an old flame looking frumpy.

She texts to tell him she’s at our gate and he goes out to meet her. Some fifteen minutes pass by and he comes back in (to be continued)