I Found You (Beth/Josh)

Chapter 2

I can't believe I'm waiting on him to call. I thought to myself as I looked at the clock once more.

9:35 pm

Thats it, I'm going to bed.

I slipped on a t-shirt and some old sweat pants and hopped into my bed. I set my alarm for 6:30 am and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I got up and took a shower. I was still a bit disappointed that Josh never called, or even texted me. I sat there, pondering the endless possibilities of why he didn't call, only to realize that I was going to be late to a meeting. I quickly got dressed and ran out the door.

I practically ran, or tried to run, considering all the people, to the building, and managed to get in right on time.

The meeting droned on an on. Not that I didn't love my job, but sometimes it was really stressful.

After three hours of talking about new plans, I was finally able to leave. I checked my phone, since it had been off during the meeting. To my surprise, I had a message from an unknown number.

Hey Beth! I'm so sorry for not calling you last night. To tell you the truth, I fell asleep. Wanna meet for coffee in the park? Anytime is good. Oh, this is Josh, if you couldn't tell. 😉

I grinned as I read the message over and over again. I quickly typed back:

Sure, I'll meet you in about 30 minutes.

That gave me enough time to run home and change. I didn't want to show up in a blazer and heels. By the time I got home, I had about 15 minutes, which wasn't very long, but the park was right outside.

I quickly changed into a long-sleeved flowy red top and skinny jeans. I kept the heels on and walked out the door.

As I entered the park, I listened to a man playing guitar for a bit, and then sat down. I had no idea where to meet him, so I texted him.

Hey, I'm here, where should we meet? Coffee shop?

A few seconds later, he replied:

Turn around

I turned around, to see him smiling. I got up and walked over.

"Hi." I said, smiling.

"Hi. You look beautiful." He said.

This took me by surprise. Nobody's ever called me beautiful, not even my ex husband.

"Thank you, you don't look bad yourself." I replied, blushing.

He laughed and looked down at his feet.

"So, I honestly didn't think I'd get this far, so I didn't exactly plan anything past getting coffee." He admitted.

I laughed and replied, "Thats fine, we can finally get to know each other."

We ordered our coffees, and found a quiet table.

"So, Josh, tell me about yourself. Anything." I said.

"Well, I'm a surgeon, I just got back from my third tour in the army, I'm from Nebraska, and thats about it. There's not much to tell about me." He said, shrugging. "What about you?"

"Well, I'm a city planner, running for city council, I was divorced about a year ago, and I just moved to New York about a year ago as well." I replied.

We sat there and talked for hours, and didn't realize how late it had gotten.

"Well, It's 7 already, I should head home." I said, getting up.

Even though I didn't have any work scheduled tomorrow, I still wanted to work on some things tonight.

"Let me walk you home?" He asked.

"Okay." I said, smiling.

When we reached my apartment, I turned to him.

"Thanks, for today." I said.

"Nah, no need to say thanks. Maybe we can do it again." He said, winking.

"Of course. Would you like to come in? If you want to." I asked.

"Sure." He said.

We walked in and sat on my couch. I took off my heels, and put them away.

"So, what made you come talk to me the other day?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why did you talk to me? Why not any of the other women? Why me?" I asked.

"Well, for one, you are breathtakingly beautiful, but thats not why I talked to you. I guess, I just saw something in you. I'm definitely glad I did." He said.

Wow, I really didn't expect that.

"Me too." Was all I said.

We sat up late that night. We talked about everything under the moon. We were easily getting comfortable with each other. He told me about his alcoholic dad, which almost brought me to tears. I told him about my rough past, how my ex would always blame everything on me.

Somehow, his arm ended up around me, and my head ended up on his shoulder, but it felt nice. I'd felt safe.