• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Janice Beetle Books

Writing, editing, book development, and publishing help

  • Home
  • About
    • My Books
    • Clients’ Books
    • Privacy Policy
  • Services
    • Creative Writing Review/Coaching
    • Book Development /Writing
      • Book Development Sampler
    • Book Editing
    • Copy Editing
    • Book Design
    • Publishing Guidance
  • Blog
  • Poem Pods
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Order My Book
You are here: Home / All / Mistakes Were Made

Mistakes Were Made

September 10, 2018 by Janice Beetle Leave a Comment

Note: This is the seventh of eleven parts. Click here to read from the beginning.

I had a second date with Jacques that was even more enticing than the first.

We went to Mill 180 Park in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where you can experience a slice of summer and warmth in the middle of winter. The floor is carpeted with Astro Turf, and large hydroponic plants grow in the light from the mill building’s massive windows, through which there are great views of Mount Tom.

We ordered a couple of beers and a sandwich that we shared while playing cribbage—a favorite game of mine. Jacques beat me twice. He did not gloat.

“I’m pretty competitive,” I told him. “I don’t like to lose.”

This sentiment would soon have new meaning, but that night, I felt like I was winning. Jacques was more relaxed than he’d been on the first date, and also more engaging. In between counting cards and pegging, we told more stories about our lives and, again, marveled at the many parallels.

“What are the odds we’d get along so well?” he asked me more than once.

When we got in line to order a second beer, Jacques was behind me. He put a hand on my waist, kissed the back of my neck. I thought I might swoon on the floor in front of him, that he might have to heave me over a shoulder to carry me back to the car. Instead, I giggled.

He drove me home. He gave me another fabulous kiss goodnight.

In the next few days, Jacques and Troy texted me to wish me a Happy Valentine’s Day, and I had my first date at my brother’s restaurant with Gary. In the midst of it all, I was aware I had become smitten with Jacques.

That’s why, well, mistakes were made.

My mistakes, that is. (Don’t anyone miss the lesson I’m putting down here: Texting is not always your friend. Folks on the other end cannot see your facial expressions, and they miss your best jokes.)

Like this one.

A few nights after our successful second date, Jacques was at work, and we texted on and off for a few hours. More than once, he expressed that he found me alluring.

“Could we have found mind-body-spirit in one another?” he asked. That he could even frame that thought was sexy to me.

“Time will tell,” I said. I was playing it cool, a route I knew little about. But that didn’t last long. I felt I should match Jacques’ honesty, that it wasn’t fair to hold out.

So, I said, “I do feel a deep connection to you. Yes. Mind. Body. Spirit.”

As soon as I’d let the words whoosh into Jacques’ orbit, I got anxious. I’d said too much. I was supposed to be all “whatever.” I was not supposed to fall in love, and most of all, I wasn’t supposed to admit to it.

Jacques did not respond immediately, which, if you know me, can set me off even if what we are talking about is benign, like lunch.

So, I got more anxious, started texting stupid follow-up messages, like, “Hello? Do you read me?” (Do not do this at home. Hide your phone in the trunk of your car. Dig a hole in your backyard and bury it. Whatever you do, don’t check your messages obsessively while online dating, and don’t, god, whatever you do, don’t try to be funny when you feel vulnerable.)

I didn’t have my own good advice to heed at the time, or good judgement. About an hour after my emotive text, I said, “Jacques, aren’t you out of work now?”

He had been in the routine of calling me on his way home, so I was expecting he might call, especially since he hadn’t texted. Then I had a thought that would be my undoing. I was laughing out loud as I typed, “Where are you? I’m going to call the police.”

And I really cracked up when, in a new text field, I inserted the police car emoji and sent that too.

“Having fun over there?” Craig asked me.

“Ya,” I said. And in that moment, I truly was. I was actually grateful there was a police car emoji. Who knew? It was the perfect punctuation mark to my snappy comment. I had no idea I had just made a big mess of things, but by the next afternoon, when Jacques had still not been in contact, I sure did.

A painful 12 hours later, as I was sitting down in Osaka, a Japanese restaurant in Northampton, with my older daughter Sally and her family on Sally’s 29th birthday, Jacques finally responded.

He said, “Janice, you are a truly amazing woman, but I think that what you are looking for is marriage, and I am really not. I think it would be best if we don’t see each other anymore.”

It was like a freaking chopstick to the heart.

 

Click here to read the next blog in this series. Make sure you don’t miss it; sign up to follow this blog on the Home page, in the sidebar.

← Previous Post
Next Post →

Filed Under: All, Dating Tagged With: Bumble, dating world, online dating

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe

Please enter your email address to receive blog posts by email.

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Larceny in the Aisles is Hot Off the Press!
  • Ten Tips for the Travel Writer-Wannabe
  • Thrilled to Meet My Client From London

Archives

  • October 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • November 2012

Footer

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

© 2023 Janice Beetle Books · Privacy Policy
Content by Janice Beetle Books · Site by Turn Signal Media