When we last left off, it was the summer of 2000 and Mike and I were officially broken up. I was heartbroken and convinced I’d never love again (and all that other dramatic stuff that girls think when they’re young).
I went on to college and eventually started dating my now-ex-husband (whom I had a lot of good times and good years with). Mike went to school, moved around, and dated a few other girls.
Mike and I in 2002, hanging out at the park with our friend Erica.
We had a few mutual friends and always kept in touch. Sometimes we’d go 6 or 8 months without talking, but then an email or text message would pop up, and we’d pick up again just like old friends.
Mike and I hanging out at Perkins in 2003 or 2004.
We’d occasionally get together at a friends’ house or meet at Perkins for coffee. We would talk and enjoy each other’s company, but there was always this sense of melancholy. I guess our friendship then was bittersweet; I was glad to have him in my life, but my heart was sad over what could have been.
I don’t think either of us really believed then that anything could be, though. So we moved on. I moved to Tennessee and got married in 2007. Mike and his longtime girlfriend had a baby. Both our lives were on completely different paths.
In 2009, everything changed. Mike and his girlfriend separated and he was settling into life as a single-dad. My marriage was, sadly, falling apart and I just wanted to come home to Pennsylvania to be with my family.
So, that’s what I did — I came home. A lot. I’d make the 600-mile trip as often as I could while I was going through my divorce.
During that time, Mike and I started talking more and more by text message and email and when I was in town, we’d get together. Eventually, on one my Pennsylvania-visits, he and I confessed our feelings — turns out just like me, he’d never gotten over his feelings. It felt too storybook-perfect to be for real.
But the reality was, though I was divorced and free to date whomever I pleased, I still lived in Tennessee, and he lived in Pennsylvania, where he could be close to his son. How would we make it work?
Well, obviously we did make it work … but I’ll fill you in about that in Part 3.
