Bob by Bernard J. (story read aloud .txt) 📕

"Do you have a girlfriend? A young man like you should have a great girlfriend." She tend her hand to Bob's and he responded by looking at her engagement ring. She did not dissimulate. She was curious about the answer.

"I had a girlfriend but we broke when I was coming to New York. She was a little older than me. We had a great time." Bob got a little nervous after his answer thinking Jessica might get a little down from his confession that his relationship went well. Bob peeked at her flawless face to see her dad again.

"He was fine at the beginning and we were together and happy. All of a sudden, he became someone different." She stated the obvious again and Bob phone rang of a message that just came in. Bob tend the phone to her and her eyes widened considerably. Bob knew the response did not go in Jessica's favor. He watched her replied to the text with anxiety and fear. He only wished he could get her load over his. Bob always seemed to understand people pain. He would put himself in their place and it would make it affect him to his expression. He did the same for her and she noticed. She let her hand down pending over the rest bar of the chair. Bob only reached her and they felt it. The connection between them, the spark that made things happened and the source of all meeting between a man and a woman.

"Tell me a lot more about you. What are you doing?" She got curious after the message and Bob decided to go all the way even if it was only for this moment.

"I am unemployed. I loved at New York with my godmother. I have a bachelor in legal assistant and I have a big debt on my back. I am happy I am here right now." Bob smiled watching her blushing and shyly peeking at him.

"Why?" She dared asking him with the intention to hear his reply, which she had an idea already.

"Because I am with you right now and we meet. You are a beautiful woman and I like you a lot. I hope I got a chance to meet you again." Bob confessed his real intention toward her and she did not flinch hearing these words. Only she worried Bob might be the same type of guy as her last boyfriend.

"You can call me or send me a message."

"Well then, can I have your number? It will be much easier to do with it." She passed her number to him and he did the same. He knew the future. He had 95% possibility they won't meet again, she wont call and he will call but won't find her. This was important he was always opened to the possibility something different might occur and Destiny would play in his favor. "And you, what did you do in your town?"

"As I told you, I was a teacher but I quit because I did not like it anymore. I studied at the university also and I have my own debt. I am going to St Louis right now." She trusted Bob enough to tell him her story besides her bad experience from her last relationship.

"Do you have any sister or brother." Bob asked curiously in a hurry.

"Yes. I have a sister and a brother. They are living with my pop. We are not in good term because I left home. But I am seriously considering to get back home, in Illinois." She was not sure but she was looking for the bright answer or someone to encourage her.

"I understand you. I am in the same position. I am at New York and I can't find a proper job. I am thinking of going back in Florida. New York is nothing from what I heard all these years back." Bob was disappointed from the experience he had in New York. He could not find a simple job of routine between 8 to 5 and to get back home. So simple, it was the only little activity he needed. He experienced life too much to know not to complaint anymore, under any kind of situation.

"What do you think? Should I go back home or not?"

"Definitely, family is family. Just call your dad. Do what you must do and go back home. He will be happy to see you again."

"You really think so." Bob smiled and grabbed her hand to kiss her gently and she knew he was into him enough to advise her with good intention. He sure dreamed to meet her again inn the future.

Jessica had turned long enough to have his face in front of Bob eyes during the whole trip. During that time, it only existed two people in the whole bus, Him and her. Their hand was still clamped together and there was nothing that could break this short union. Bob felt a little uncomfortable with her engagement ring. She did not hesitate to change it hand and Bob smiled.

"See I have the engagement ring and another one. This one is from...my mother. She is pretty right. I think I am going to give him back his ring. I do not need it anymore." She was admiring it almost wishing the guy who have it to her was as constant as the diamond.

"I heard from some women that you do not give back a engagement ring to the guy who have it to you."

"Really. I did not know that. Well, I will keep it simply for his worth to me. It is a beautiful ring." Jessica did not feel much for him anymore. He had made his last mistake and she was decisive not to see him again. Bob heard it in her voice. "You see there are some people who can make a connection so easily while others… will we meet again? I will love to see you.?"

"I will love to come visit you in your town in Illinois. Maybe one day I will make a trip down there. I will call you first. Will you come meet me?" Bob would love nothing more to see that day happened on the same spot. He started imagining how he would feel seeing the sun again close to his new girl. Having her for woman in house and counting at least four children together.

"You know I have never been in a relationship with someone the same color as me. This is my first time meeting a black man. I heard when you go black you do not go back." Bob and Jessica laughed to her statement and he felt proud for being a black moment after what she said.

"Well, I can't neither confirm or deny such statement. All I can tell you is the truth is closer than you think." She tend toward Bob and somehow she reached his shoulder and put her head down there in the place she felt secure and safe. Bob realized in a second time in his life He had met a woman who would have made a great wife for him, but he was no coward to make a woman in that position without an earning possibility possibility in order to respond to the responsibility of a man in a family. Bob wanted a family in joy and with happiness, not a family that would swallow wind instead of proper groceries from market. Sure Jessica might accept him without a job now, but what will happen in two, three months? He could not assure to her he might be earning something, because himself did not see it in his future or even his present.

Bob searched in his phone to see how close he was to Harrisburg. 15 minutes out and he could already see the lights of the city and the beauty of the of the lights who reminded him of Florida streets in the night. Sure these images came into his mind, but now he was more concerned about his goodbye to Jessica. The end was near and he wanted to do more with her than just holding hand. He hoped to meet her again but he knew better than that. He wanted to taste her lips, but the occasion did not favor him that much.

"What is wrong?" She mumbled as she knew the time had come for Bob to leave her.

"I am at my destination. I will leave in about 10 minutes. I am happy to meet you and I would like to see you again or hear from you." Bob held her hands firm like he wanted to follow her at the end of the earth wherever she would go. Yet, he could not because his vision to find the right employment waited for him just behind the wall, the streets, and the buildings of Harrisburg. The future only could tell him if it would succeed or not, but for now he had to try anyway to score this employment of truck driving.

"I will and I wish we could have met in better circumstances. You are a good guy and I think we would have made a great couple." Jessica was already thinking the same as Bob, but she could not leave home for a stranger she met for only two hours. True, the connection was undeniable and passionate but the reality did not always agree with the choices or the connection between two people. If it did, Bob would not be so lonely to meet someone in this trip and to have his heart torn in two. He would have been married and with children.

"I will text you when I get to my hotel to know if you arrive St Louis in good shape. Wait for my call." Their love might be declared in other words since they knew one another well enough to say that one was made for the another.

"Good bye." These last words were hard to come from Bob mouth, but they came out anyway he did not have a choice in the matter. His destination was there, his condition was taken and sealed, his word was law, and his expectation of his own effort was in