"waiting in the wings"

For years Chad has always been Wiley E Coyote to my Road Runner. I’m usually at least three steps ahead of him.

Usually.

It was the term “waiting in the wings” Ashlee used. I knew where that came from and who it came from.

So…I called Chad.

He asked, “Did Ash call you about this weekend?”

“Why yes she did!” I replied while laughing.

“Damn! That kid of yours pumped me for all kinds of information! ‘What did you do? What did you eat? What did you watch? Did you sleep over?’ Jesus, Red, I felt thoroughly grilled!” Chad laughed hard. “Maybe she should consider a career at the FBI!”

I chuckled, “I think she was trying to see if our stories matched.”

We laughed for a few minutes about our conversations with her.

And then I just had to open my mouth and ask…

“Did you tell her you’d been waiting in the wings for me for over thirty years?”

“Yeah. I said that. How long have we known each other, Red?” he asked.

“Thirty-four years?” I questioned if my math was correct.

“And do you recall me telling you several years ago many times I was having to move at the speed of lightning to be with you before the next man came along?” he asked.

I replied with a laugh, “Yes I remember but I know you were just teasing me!”

Momentary silence.

“Nope! No, I wasn’t. If you haven’t noticed I’ve just been bidding my time until you were single again. Honey, I know you’re not over Nick yet. You made that clear to me and I’m going to respect that. I want you to know that no matter what I will still be here…waiting on you…for however long it takes. I mean that,” he stated quite clearly.

I was honestly speechless.

“Aren’t you gonna say something?” he asked. I could hear his smarmy smile over the phone. 

I couldn’t even come up with a good comeback to that.

He snickered. “I can’t believe you’ve got nothin’ to say in response! I swear, Red, you are the most exasperating woman it’s ever been my privilege to never fall out of love with.”

Well. Now I know how it feels to be Wiley E Coyote…