Damaged Goods

"So, what do you think? Would you be willing to marry me?" he asked, while massaging his temples, not even pretending to hide the fact that this proposal, if it could even be called that, was giving him a headache.

Lyla had first met TJ Carson when she was nine years old. Countless times through junior high had a dreamed about a day when their paths might cross again. But none of her fantasies about what that moment would be like resembled the current situation she found herself in.

"Well, what do you think?" He asked again, bring Lyla back from her junior high memories. "I know it's a lot, and definitely out of the blue, and not a quick decision to make, and..." TJ started rambling until she interrupted.

"I'm going to have to think about it. I'm not saying 'no,' but I'm definitely not saying 'yes' either."

There was a lot to process from the conversation they just had. Lyla didn't even know where to start.

"How long do I have to think about this," she asked.

"Well, I was hoping to know before I flew back home on Thursday. If you say no, I've got a lot of legal hoops and battles I'll need to try to sort through before my time is up. I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but I could definitely make it worth your while."

Lyla just stared at him blankly, trying to wrap her mind around what he was asking from her. She had so many questions, and so many conflicting ideas running through her mind, and considering it was Tuesday, and TJ wanted an answer by Thursday, Lyla felt like my brain was melting.

"Ok," he said, "I can tell you're obviously going to have a lot of questions, and if we decide to do this, there will be a lot of... decisions and expectations and other things to discuss. Can we meet sometime tomorrow to talk through some of it? If nothing else, to at least help you figure out whether or not it's something you even want to consider?"

"Yeah, I can do that" Lyla responded. "When and where do you want to meet?"

"I'm staying at the Westin, just down the street. We can meet there and go for a walk around the park to talk things through. Will that work, say 9am?"

"I'm not trying to be difficult," Lyla responded hesitantly "but I have several meetings in the morning tomorrow. Can we meet sometime tomorrow afternoon? That will give me a little more time to process some of this. How about 3:30?"

TJ rubbed his temples again, and said, "Sure, 3:30 is fine. I brought my laptop to work while I'm here, so I can work around whatever your schedule is. I'll see you tomorrow at 3:30."

He turned to walk away, but as his hand rested on the door, he turned back to Lyla, "Thanks for listening, and at least considering it, Lyla." And then he walked out the door.

To say she was stunned would have been an understatement. TJ had barely crossed Lyla's mind since high school, and here they were several years later, and he had called her out of the blue, and asked if they could meet for coffee. She was pleasantly surprised, and thought it would be fund to catch up with an old friend. Lyla was definitely not expecting him to ask her to marry him, so that he could maintain the majority shares of his father's engineering firm.

Lyla remembered back to the first time she had met TJ. She was 9, he was 10 and they were on the playground at school. It was Lyla's first day at a new school, as her family had just moved to town. They moved around a lot. Her dad had a hard time keeping steady work. She hated being 'the new kid' in class, and being made to stand in the front of the class and introduced to everyone. Lyla was tall for her age, with lanky limbs she didn't have much control over. As a result, she was very self-conscious, and always felt uncomfortable in front of people. So when the bell rang for recess, she ran to hide behind a tree to wait until time to return to class. She didn't want to talk to anyone, and just wanted to make it through the day.

She was behind the tree when TJ had walked up to her and introduced himself.

"Hey, Lyla, I'm TJ. Want a piece of my orange?" he had asked, as he handed her some orange slices, and casually leaned up against the tree she was hiding behind. For her, it was an immediate crush. He had kind of been her hero that day. They played at school a lot, but that was really the only place she ever saw him. They didn't live close enough to each other to hang out, outside of school and took different buses home. But, for a year and a half, knowing TJ would be at school, was enough for her to look forward to being there.

It was about two weeks before summer break when my dad announced that we would be moving again. I was devastated. Lyla didn't want to move again, or have to make new friends somewhere else. But most of all, she didn't want to move away from TJ.

Lyla spent the next couple of years, thinking about him frequently, and even wrote him a few letters after she moved. He wrote her back a couple of times, but it wasn't long before she didn't get any more responses, at which point, Lyla felt it would just seem desperate for her to keep writing to him, and she stopped. By the time Lyla started high school, TJ was just an occasional memory. So, when she got a call at work from a TJ Carson, it actually took her a few minutes to recall where she knew that name from, and she was very surprised to hear from him. But when she saw him at the coffee shop that day after work, my thoughts were flooded with good memories. His dark eyes were sad and tired, not the vibrant confident eyes she remembered from her childhood. His dark blond hair hadn't changed much. Loose unruly waves on top that were trimmed into a clean-cut around the hairline at his neck. No longer a child, he had an athletic and toned build, but not overly muscular. He obviously exercised on a regular basis, but most likely that didn't involve heavy weightlifting. She had wondered if his warm smile would be the same as it had been all those years ago.

Now, sitting here with what had once been hot coffee, she rubbed her eyes trying to think through the many snippets of information TJ had just tried to tell her. None of it really made sense. But what shocked her the most, was that she was actually considering saying yes to his proposal.

Author Note:

**This is my first attempt at something for others to read, if you've made it this far, I'd love some comments and feedback. Thank you**