(Short) A Chance Encounter: Part 1

This is going to be a "Daddy" story but nobody in this story is related to one another in any way.  Hopefully this passes the Patreon purity test.  lol  I am planning for this to be a 4 part Short but we will see how it goes.  This will be a purely cis straight story, fyi.  I'm hoping it will be strong enough to publish as an ebook afterward.

I'm going to put up a poll after this for you folks to decide the hair and eye colors for the woman in this story.

In other news, A Giant's Heart will be put on hiatus for the time being.  Slave Girl has proven to be much more popular with y'all so I'll be focusing on that for awhile.

Now, onto A Chance Encounter.

***

I saw him from across the room.  I had to look three times to make sure I wasn’t imagining him.  He was older, grayer, the creases on his rugged world weary face deeper, but it was him alright.  After all these years, to see him here of all places, I could hardly believe it.  My heart leapt with joy.

I pick up my pina colada and blow off the boorish loudmouth who had been flirting with me.  The guy doesn’t miss a beat as he turns to the girl on this other side and starts up with her.  Taking a deep breath I gather my courage and start across the room, my eyes locked on my destination.

The man I saw looked both so familiar yet so different as well.  He still had the same hard handsome features but around his eyes he looked tired and worn down.  He had a few days of stubble darkening his cheeks, chin, and upper lip, something I never saw from the impeccably clean shaven man I remembered, and he was due a haircut.  Not that the extra length didn’t look good on him, it was just different.  Try as he might to look casual he was noticeably and uncomfortably out of place with his salt and pepper hair and his tacky hawaiian shirt here in this chic singles bar full of fit carousing twenty and thirty-somethings.  Where the other tables in the bar had a rainbow of brightly colored drinks fancied up with slices of pineapple and little umbrellas, on his sat a single bottle of beer.  His thick meaty hand nearly engulfed it each time he picked it up to take a drink.  Physically he looked good.  He’d lost some weight around his gut but gained as much through his chest, shoulders, and arms.  He’d clearly been hitting the gym.  His rich bronze tan was the one thing that did look right here in this tropical paradise.

The closer I got the more nervous I became.  I wanted to see him, to talk to him, more than anything in the world.  But would he welcome it?  The way he had just disappeared those years ago, perhaps he would not appreciate a face from his past coming back to haunt him.  We were staying in the same resort though, eventually we were bound to bump into each other.  It was better we get it out of the way now.  Besides, I would never forgive myself I let this moment pass me by.

“Mr. Eldridge?”  I say over the pumping dance music as I approach the last few steps.  “Do you remember me?”

On hearing his name his head snaps to face me.  His eyes narrow a moment as he takes a good look then quickly widen in surprise.

“Oh my God!”  His face lights up with recognition.  “Ella?  Ella Parker!  Of course I remember you!”

He stands and steps out from around his table to pull me into a big encompassing hug.  All this time I had thought my memories of him were rose colored but he was every bit as big and brawny as I remembered him to be.  I felt ten years old again wrapped in his strong arms.  The spicy smell of his cologne hits me like bombshell of pure nostalgia.  I am grinning from ear to ear as I hug him back and rest my head against his wide chest.

Stepping back he looks me up and down.  “Look at you!”  I had done a lot of growing since the last time he saw me, a bit up but mostly out.  I was a woman now, not the skinny girl from last we saw each other.  “Oh my God!”  He says in disbelief.  “Ella!  Wow.  What’s it been?  Six…seven years?”

“Almost nine.”  I say.  “Since Jessica’s funeral.”

He tries to hide it but the mention of his daughter has a profound effect on him, even after all this time.  His smile fades a little, his wide shoulders sag almost imperceptibly, and his blue-gray eyes dim as quickly as they’d lit up.  “Right, of course.”

I try to move things quickly along.  “What in the heck brings you to Punta Cana?”  I look around.  “Where’s Mrs. Eldridge?”

“The former Mrs. Eldridge.”  He corrects me.  “Helen moved back to Boston after the divorce.”

“Oh!  I’m sorry.  I didn’t know.”

He grins and moves around to pull a chair out for me.  “It’s all good.  We’ve been apart for years already.”  I sit down and put my drink on the table.  He moves around and takes his seat again.  “As for what I’m doing here.”  He shakes his head and lets out a deep baritone chuckle, oh how I had missed that laugh.  “I’m acting a fool is what I’m doing.  I thought maybe a singles holiday might…I don’t know, get me back in the game.  I didn’t realize everyone would be so young.”  He takes a swig of his beer.  “No fool like an old fool they say.”  He reaches across and pats my hand.  “So hey, how you been doin kid?  What have you been up to?”

“Oh!  So much!”  I say.  “Where to begin?  Let’s see, I graduated top of my class.”

“I know.”  His smile brightens again.  “I saw it on the website.  Valedictorian.  I knew you had it in you.”

The fact he checked in on that and the genuine pride I heard in his voice caused my heart to skip a beat.  I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face if I wanted to.  I continue on.  “I got into university, pharmacy.  Full ride scholarship, grants, bursaries.  I applied for everything I could, just like you told me to.  I even got a part-time job for the weekends.  Mom didn’t have to pay a dime, not that she could have.  I’m in the doctorate program now.  Two more years and I’ll have my PharmD.”

He sits back, taken aback by my academic success.  “Wow!  Look at you.  That is incredible Ella.”

My heart is overflowing.  Hearing his approval meant so much.  I had one more thing I simply had to tell him.  Something he needed to know.  “It’s all thanks to you Mr. Eldridge.  Everything.”

“Me?”

“You.”  I state unequivocally.  “None of this could have happened without you.”

He tilts his head with a puzzled look.  “What do you mean?”

I stare across the table at this man.  This wonderful, incredible, loving man.  How could I possibly put into words the effect he’d had on my life?  

Growing up my mother had a string of boyfriends, nearly a dozen over the years, but not one I considered anything more than an acquaintance.  A few were downright abhorrent.  The one man who had been a constant for me from five years old until sixteen was my best friend Jessica’s father, Mr. Eldridge.  My own home life had not been happy so I spent every moment I could over at their house.  While Mrs. Eldridge kept a respectful distance between us, Jessie and her Dad welcomed me in with warm hearts and open arms.  Hours, days, weeks I would spend with them, greedily taking every minute they would give me.  After school, before school, sleepovers, weekends, and more.  They took me with them on day trips, they brought me along camping, Mr. Eldridge taught Jessica and I how to drive, and it was Mr. Eldridge who took my very first date aside to let him know, in no uncertain terms, that if he took liberties with me there would be hell to pay.  He loaned me money for my first car, money I still owed him to this day, but never said a word about it.  They treated me as one of their own.  Jessica and I often joked that we were more sisters than friends.  Nearly every happy memory I had from my childhood involved the Eldridge family.  I was so close with them that when Jessica fell ill I was the one person from outside the family they allowed into her hospital room.

Mr. Eldridge was the only Dad I’d ever known.  The only Dad I ever needed.  While I only received his fatherly attention thanks to my friendship with his daughter I valued him every bit as much as Jessica did, maybe even more so.  He taught me the value of hard work and perseverance.  He taught me how to listen to my heart and conscience despite what others might say or think of me.  He believed in me when others turned their backs and that faith in me made me believe in myself.  He told me of his story, coming from a poor upbringing, and gave me an example to follow.  A star to aim toward.  He showed me what was possible.  Like him, I was the first in my family to get a university degree and I never could have done it without his guidance.  To say I loved the man didn’t even come close to summing up my feelings about him.

Sadly, after Jessica passed on everything changed.  Without Jessica there I didn’t have the same reason to spend time with them.  Before the funeral I would pop in now and then but only for short visits.  It was more than my friend’s absence that changed things though.  We were all hurting at her loss, but Mr. Eldridge most of all.  I had never seen a strong man so utterly broken.  He was the first grown man I ever saw weep.  After the tears was even worse.  All the vibrancy and life had drained from him leaving a numb shell of a man behind.  My visits only seemed to make things worse.  I was a walking reminder of his daughter and how things used to be.  So, after the funeral, I stopped popping by to give the grieving parents time and space.  Little did I know that they would move away soon after.  They gave me their new address and landline number but inside of a year they moved again and that’s when I lost track of them.

Losing him hurt nearly as much as losing Jessie.  But I never forgot the lessons he taught me.  I worked damned hard to get where I was and I was damned proud of doing it on my own, but he was the spark that lit the fuse.

“Hey.”  He says in a warm gentle tone, reaching across to take my hand and give it a reassuring squeeze.  “You okay?”

Without realizing it tears had begun streaming down my cheeks.  I wipe my eyes and laugh.  “Sorry, I just…I never thought I’d see you again.”  I sniffle and try to blink the tears away, but they just kept flowing.  “You meant so much to me Mr. Eldridge.  You…you have no idea.  I…I couldn’t have done it without you.  Any of it.  I owe you everything.”

He smiles kindly and passes me one of the cloth napkins.  “I think you’re selling yourself short.  I may have given you a little nudge, but you did the rest.  You would have found your way with or without me.”

“No.”  With the napkin I dab my eyes and wipe my damp cheeks.  “I don’t think so.  God!  I’m sorry I’m crying like this Mr. Eldridge.”

“It’s okay.”  He says.  “And call me Brian.  It’s kind of weird you addressing me like one of your professors.”

I laugh and nod.  “Okay.  Brian.”  God that felt weird.  “Whoo.  That was intense.  I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, really.”  He assures me.  “It…it means a lot, hearing that from you.  I often wondered how you were doing, but…”  Whatever he said next is drowned out by the thumping beat of the dance tunes.  This was not an ideal place for this to be happening.  He clears his throat, shakes his head, and takes another drink of beer.  “Ahem, anyways.  So, what brings you down here?  Shouldn’t you be studying or something?”

“A break.”  I say.  “A much needed break.  I saved all my pennies for this trip.  A bit of fun in the sun before I have to get back to the grindstone.”

“Well…I hope me being here doesn’t make this weird for you.  Don’t let the old man ruin your fun.”

“You won’t.”  I say, as far as I was concerned just seeing him made the whole expense of this trip seem a bargain.  “And you’re not THAT old.”

“Ha!”  He chortles as he watches a pair of perfect beach bodies scamper past the table toward the bar.  “I’m not that young either.”  He drains his beer and sets it down.  “I’ll let you get back to…all this.”  He motions toward all the young beautiful dancing and laughing people around us.  “What are you doing for dinner?  They have a steakhouse here.  I’d love to meet and catch up with you properly.”

“I’ll be there.”  I promise.  “Just tell me when.”

“Hmm.  Seven o’clock?”  Then, quite unexpectedly, I catch his eyes flit downward for just an instant.  I’d seen it a million times before of course, every busty woman could spot that little cleavage peek a mile away, but coming from Mr. Eldridge it took me aback.  To be fair to him I hadn’t met a straight man yet who didn’t at least glance once.  It’s not like he stared or gawked or was openly checking me out.  It was just one quick peek and then back to my eyes.  I am suddenly very cognizant of the fact that I was only wearing a bikini top.  I am sure he couldn’t help himself, I filled a bikini top more than most women and the last time he’d seen me I was barely into a training bra, but seeing him of all people do it was…interesting.

I bite my lips to hide my grin and take a sip of my drink.  “Mmm, yeah.  Sounds good.  I’ll see you at seven.”

Part 2