Jackie was my landlord. I moved into the two story unit next to hers a week after she bought the duplex.
She was a very nice woman who had only hang up. Her age.
Jackie was forty five but looked thirty. She told people she was thirty two and no one ever questioned her. She had three kids but she would not allow them to call her mother. Jackie did not want anyone to know she had a twenty three year old son.
She was five-four and had thick, honey blond hair that hung down around her shoulders. Her eyes were bluish green, her small nose was straight and pointed and her lips were wide and full. She was slender, almost skinny, but she did not starve herself. She had large, full, straight breasts, narrow hips and a small, tight ass. Her legs were slender and shapely.
As I was unlocking my front door, Jackie opened her door, "Good evening, Kyle," she said, "You look exceptionally handsome tonight." I was wearing my best suit, white on white shirt and a striped tie.
"Evening Jackie," I answered, "Thanks for noticing."
"You're home early," she said, "its only eight thirty. Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," I told her, "just my whole life got flushed down the drain."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jackie asked, concern in her voice. Without waiting for me to answer, she grabbed my hand and pulled me into her apartment. "Just come in. we'll have coffee, or something stronger, and we can talk."
Jackie got us each a beer and, sitting at the kitchen table, I told her about my night.
I had made reservations at "La Petite France" six months ago. It was the best restaurant in town and reservations were almost impossible to get, especially on Valentine's Day.
I had the entire night planned. After dinner, I had arranged to be picked up by a horse drawn carriage and driven around the park. That was when I was going to ask Mandy, the girl I had been dating for two and a half years, to marry me.
We never made it out of Mandy's apartment. I showed up, dressed to the nines, with a box of chocolates and two dozen roses. Mandy was wearing a red sweater and levis. She told me that she no longer wanted to see me. She had met someone else and she and I were through.
After a brief, but futile, argument, I left her apartment, drove around while I digested what had just happened and came home.
"The silly little bitch," Jackie said, "She broke up with you, on Valentine's Day."
"You got it," I said. I took the ring out of my pocket and dropped it on the table. "Want a ring?"
Jackie inspected the ring and said, "Nice."
"But useless," I told her.
"There will be other girls," Jackie said.
