How They Met. David Friedman

Чтение книги онлайн.

The Direct Approach

      Anne, a successful Broadway actress/singer who starred in such shows as Cyrano, Les Misérables, Victor/Victoria, and The Phantom of the Opera, suddenly found herself widowed at a young age. For a while, she and her seven-year-old daughter stayed in New York, Anne starring in “Phantom” while her daughter performed in “Les Miz” right next door. But it soon became apparent that Anne and her daughter needed a break to gather themselves, heal, and grieve, so they left New York and moved to California to live with Anne’s mother, taking Anne completely out of the Broadway environment where she had lived and worked for so many years.

      After a period of time, Anne’s therapist and others around her encouraged her to start dating. As Anne describes it, “When I started dating, I used a lot of online dating services. I was very open to meeting different kinds of people, and I sort of had the philosophy that I’d been in show business my whole life, had pretty much only dated people in show business, and it would be really interesting to meet people outside of that world. So I met people who did all kinds of different things, but nothing really clicked. I’d go out on one date, a couple of dates, even date someone for six weeks or a few months, but I didn’t find anyone who seemed like they were going to be worth any sort of compromise.”

      So consciously trying to meet someone and using all the tools available didn’t seem to be working.

      After a number of years, Anne decided it was time to move back to the New York area, so she and her daughter flew East and settled into a home in Westchester, a suburb just north of the City. Anne was not dating anyone at the time and was no longer using online dating services, but a few friends set her up with people, and after going out on a couple of dates, Anne had a revelation. She thought, “You know what? I’m done. I’m really done. I don’t want to date any more. I’ve met so many people, some really nice people, but nothing is clicking. I’m very self-sufficient, I’m very happy being single, being a single mom, I love my life with my daughter, I have a horse, I love my horse, I love where we live, I’m able to provide for us, I don’t need more. And maybe you only get a couple of really great loves in your life, and maybe I’ve had that and it’s just not in the cards for me. So I quit. With contentment. And I was really good with it. I loved my life, my life was really great, I didn’t feel lonely, I didn’t feel compromised, I didn’t feel like I was lacking anything. I had great friends, many from show business, where I had developed incredible friendships with so many people I’d met through the years and become very close to, as well as great girl-friends and man-friends. So my life was very, very full and that’s where I was at.”

      So . . . Anne often made concert appearances with symphonies, and she was invited by Marvin Hamlisch to sing for him at the New Jersey State Theatre with several other Broadway stars. The concert was about two hours’ drive from her home, and part of the evening was a black-tie reception after the concert to honor the CEO of Johnson & Johnson. Anne told her agent that since it was a two-hour drive, a sitter was watching her daughter, and since Anne didn’t like driving late at night, she wouldn’t be staying for the reception. At first her agent said, “Fine, no problem,” but then called back an hour later to say. “Everyone’s going to the black-tie dinner, you’re the only one who’s not going, Marvin’s going, you need to go.” So Anne said, “OK, I’ll show up, I’ll go for like twenty minutes, I’ll sit at the table, I’ll talk to everyone who’s at my table, but then I am going to have to excuse myself and leave.”

      Anne sang the concert and went to the reception where she sat at a table next to Montego Glover, who was one of the other Broadway stars on the bill, and chatted with a group of lovely people who were sitting with them. Out of the corner of her eye, Anne noticed a gentleman, with a woman with him, approaching her . . .Anne remembers thinking, “Oh, he’s so handsome. Obviously he’s with his wife. The good ones are always taken!”

      As the man got to the table, he leaned forward and said to both Anne and Montego, “I just wanted to tell you what a fantastic performance both of you gave. You were terrific: you lifted everybody’s spirits.” He then looked directly at Anne and said, “Are you single?” Kind of taken aback, Anne said, “Yes.” To which he said, “Do you have a boyfriend?” to which Anne said, “No.” To which he said, “How do I apply for that position?” To which Anne said, “Well, why don’t you sit down and I’ll see if I’m taking applications.”

      Montego, being an actress who knew how to take a cue, immediately stood up, said, “I have to go make a phone call,” and left the table, leaving her seat vacant for the gentleman to sit down.

      So he sat down and they began to chat. Anne explained to him that she would be leaving shortly because she needed to get home, since she had a daughter at home and was a single parent with a two-hour drive. He said, “Promise me that you will save me a dance before you leave,” to which Anne said, “Absolutely.” He then went on to say that he would love to get together and asked whether Anne would be open to having drinks or dinner or something. Anne explained that she was going to Dallas the following week to perform with Marvin Hamlisch again, but after that she would be home and yes, she would love to get together.

      Anne says that one of the first things she fell in love with was that when he took out his phone to take her number, being in his fifties, he was having trouble seeing the phone and was squinting trying to put her number in. She found it adorable.

      He took her phone number, and as he tells it, he didn’t know whether she was giving him the right number or not. But he gave Anne his phone number and asked her to let him know that she had arrived safely home when she got home that evening.

      They did have a dance, had a little more conversation, and then Anne said goodnight and drove home. By the time Anne arrived at home, there was a text from him saying, “Just wanted to make sure you got home safely,” to which she texted back saying, “Yes, I did. Thank you for checking.”

      The following week, when she arrived in Dallas for her concert, there was a large bouquet of flowers waiting for her in her dressing room. He had looked up Marvin Hamlisch’s concert schedule and found out where she would be performing.

      From his point of view, the reason he had been at the concert that evening was that the CEO of Johnson & Johnson was on the board of the university where he worked, so he had been there to support him. He had come without a date (the СКАЧАТЬ