The Price of Two

When the girls got to Tate’s it was starting to pick up, they spotted a table off in the corner of the front patio and decided that would be best, it was somewhat secluded and they would see the boys when they arrived. While they were waiting they ordered themselves a round of drinks and made small talk, Wyatt warned Sophia she wasn’t interested in going home with anyone but Sophia argued “You’re a single mom who is without her child for another month, have some fun, we don’t get to do this when Cash is here.”
“That’s the point. I’m a single MOM. I’m not looking to go home with anyone, be used. I can’t go through that. You got me out so just be happy with that and please don’t push anything.” She was starting to get upset. She understood where Sophia was coming from but she wished Sophia could see her side too, she couldn’t just recklessly do whatever she wanted, she had her son to think about. Wyatt took a deep breath and started to take a long drink of her cocktail.
“Hey girls, y’all get started without us?” Upon hearing the voice Wyatt looked up and saw Jamie and Jordie Benn, a girl on Jordie’s arm, and Tyler. Wyatt looked back at Sophia and gave her a stern look to behave. The girls both stood up to greet the men had changed to look a little more relaxed.
“What else were we supposed to do while we were waiting for you?” Sophia teased back at Jamie with a wink. Wyatt knew if Sophia had anything to say with it she would be leaving with Jamie and that was fine with Wyatt, Sophia was a grown woman and could take care of herself.
“This is Jordie, Jamie’s brother, and his girlfriend Jess.” Tyler introduced the couple, the girls exchanged handshakes with the couple, the guys excused themselves to go in and get drinks at the bar and the girls all sat down.
“So how do you know the boys?” Jess dove right in.
“Funny story, actually just met them tonight. Tyler was in front of me at the coffee shop and I guess he could tell I was in a rush, he paid for my drink and left a note on the back of the receipt saying he would leave tickets at the AAC tonight. Never saw his face so I had no clue who he was at all,” At this point Jess was quietly laughing.
“Yep, that sounds like something he’d do.”
“We literally had no idea what was going to happen, would we meet mystery guy at the game or was it just a nice gesture? He had someone escort us and take care of us the whole game and eventually we just asked him” Sophia explained and the girls laughed
“Sometimes he just doesn’t think before he does stuff like this. It can come off weird and creepy” Jess went on, “But I promise he really is a great guy.” Wyatt got the sense that Jess had been told to try and maybe talk Tyler up, make him seem like a guy she should be interested in and that made Wyatt uncomfortable. It wasn’t that Tyler was a bad guy or unattractive, no he was definitely very attractive, but she wasn’t going to be fooled, he had a bad rep in the dating world and she couldn’t go through another unstable relationship, or put her son through that.
The night went on and the girls were having lots of fun, the alcohol was definitely doing it’s job. Part way through the night Jess and Jordie left the group, claiming they were too old for this although the boys chirped them when they left saying Jordie just couldn’t keep it in his pants any longer. Jamie and Sophia got up stating they were heading to the bar and get another round leaving Wyatt and Tyler all alone for virtually the first time that night.
“So tell me about your day job, obviously it’s medical related based on the scrubs this morning” Tyler started the conversation off with.
“Well I work at Children’s Med as a nurse practitioner in the NICU. Can make for some long days but I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
“What does being a nurse practitioner include?”
“Well I’m typically the main caregiver for the babies I look after as well as typical nurse duties. Since my babies are in the NICU they are considered the most sickly out of the babies we care for. I work with the family on how to deal with this new change, I also work with the team of doctors on each case for more serious issues but with smaller issues, I myself act as the doctor, if that makes sense.”
“So you’re a doctor but not?”
“In simple terms I am one step below a doctor, I know a lot of the same stuff and why bother the doctor with something I can simply diagnose?”
“I guess that makes sense”
“I’d ask about your job but you showed me that yourself tonight” Wyatt joked. Jess was right, he’s a great guy and she could easily be friends with Tyler.
“Yeah, haha, it’s what I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember and I love it more than anything. Being able to step out on that ice everyday is a feeling nothing else in this world can give me.” Wyatt noticed as he talked about hockey more and more he would light up, his eyes would get this special sparkle to them and she could tell he still was in wonder as to how he was living his lifelong dream. It was admirable. Something not everyone got to do and you could tell he understood that too. “So where are you from?”
“Originally from Burnsville, Minnesota” She shortly answered.
“That’s near the twin cities right?” he looked intrigued, she nodded her head and smiled as took a drink. “So you know about hockey..”
“Maybe just a little” She giggled
“And I’m assuming you know who I am?”
“Surprisingly no,” she could tell he was trying to hide his shocked expression, “Although I sent my little brother a text during the game asking who you were and he filled me in”
“Oh no…” He shook his head and he trailed off, “When did you move here?” Tyler probbed
“End August, so still new here” She blushed
“Oh wow, yeah so just over two months then. How are you liking Dallas?”
“I love it so far, I’m coming from Chicago actually so Dallas is a little smaller and Chicago has way more skyscraper-ish buildings but I’m excited to be able to be outside now, beginning of November, with no coat on.”
“Yeah the climate takes some getting used to but it is very nice. So have you just lived in Burnsville and Chicago?”
“I’ve actually moved around the bit the past 3 years, raised in Burnsville, then when I was 20 I moved to Louisiana for about 7 months where I actually met Sophia, then I was in Iowa for a year, Chicago for almost a year, and now I’m here” She looked down, hoping he wouldn’t dig too much into it, she did jump around and she was somewhat ashamed of it, it didn’t make her look stable.
“Oh wow. That’s a lot, can I ask why?” He seemed troubled by her response.
“Young love, I followed a guy, it didn’t work out. Learned my lesson, not going to follow a guy around the midwest again.” She laughed it off, while she wasn’t lying it wasn’t the entire truth either. Wyatt hoped he could sense that she didn’t want to talk about it.
“Oh well I’m sorry that had to happen but I’m sure glad it led you here” He smiled at her with a flirtatious, almost seductive smile. Unsure what to do she smiled back and grabbed her drink.
The night wore on and the two continued to talk and engage in conversation when Jamie and Sophia came back. After a little over an hour Wyatt was yawning and looked over to Sophia and whispered “I think I’m going to head home soon, you can certainly stay if you’d like.” Sophia nodded and responded “If the guys decide to head out too then I’ll go with you” Wyatt slowly worked on her drink and listened in on the conversation, as she hit the bottom she pulled out her phone to order an Uber driver. Once that was done she stood up, “Well guys I’m going to get going, I worked a 24 hour shift and am running on about five hours of sleep right now.”
Tyler stood up, “Let me walk you out.” He let her out of the circle of deck furniture and followed behind, keeping a hand on the small of her back guiding her. When they got out of the front he turned to Wyatt, shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet “Thanks for taking a chance on a random stranger in a coffee shop. I had a really great time tonight”
“I did too” She said with a smile on her face. Just as he looked up to see her face behind him she saw her Uber pull up. “This is me,” she nodded to the car as it pulled to a stop. Tyler walked her over to the car and opened the door for her. “Thank you so much for everything, you went above and beyond.” He pulled her in for a hug and bent down to kiss her cheek. She then slid into the back of the car and was whisked off. Tyler stared after the car in awe of the woman he had gotten to know tonight.

Notes

I promise to never go this long without writing again. I made a big move down south for school and was then hit with Hurricane Matthew shortly after this move. Now that my schedule is finally somewhat settled down writing will be happening a lot more frequently.