Full Circle: A Forty Year Love Story

By Susan J Dufner

What if, in another universe, you and I could find one another again?

Do you remember your first love? Regardless of how old you were... if you close your eyes can you remember the feeling from the first time you saw him or her? Was it an immediate

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan J Dufner
• Release date: Apr 30, 2024
• ISBN: 9798892280402

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A FORTY YEAR LOVE STORY

Susan J. Dufner

Copyright © 2024 by Susan J. Dufner.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without a prior written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review, and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by the copyright law.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024906756

ISBN:   979-8-89228-038-9   (Paperback)

ISBN:   979-8-89228-039-6   (Hardcover)

ISBN:   979-8-89228-040-2   (eBook)

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the three men in my life. My husband Regan who encouraged me to pursue my lifelong dream of writing a book. He brought me endless cups of coffee and kept the dogs occupied as I disappeared into my office to write for hours each day. To my two sons Jordan (who pushed me to take out the book I started and JUST DO IT, MOM) and Andrew, who I can proudly show that with hard work, dreams do come true.

PROLOGUE

1970

Top news: Boeing 747 makes its first passenger flight to London; the Jackson Five are introduced on American Bandstand; Apollo 13 launches on April 11, and on April 13, the famous line, Houston, we have a problem, is heard around the world; Vietnam War continues.

Music: Let it Be by the Beatles goes #1, the same year the Beatles break up after ten years; War by Edwin Starr, American Woman by the Guess Who; Janis Joplin dies of a drug overdose; and the Carpenters have several song releases, including Close to You.

Movies: Love Story, MASH, Patton.

Sports: Willie Mays becomes the 10th Baseball player to get 3000 hits; Jack Nicklaus wins the British Open for the second time; Baltimore Orioles win the World Series; Kansas City Chiefs win Superbowl.

Do you remember your first love? Regardless of how old you were… if you close your eyes, can you remember the feeling from the first time you saw them? Was it an immediate hit to your heart? Was it a slow start, and then love struck? Was it short-lived, lasted for years, or for just a few, are you lucky to still be together, having that happily ever after s tory?

I was fourteen when I first saw Seth two years ago. That summer, before middle school was to start, I was uprooted from everything familiar to me; friends who I grew up with included. We moved from Long Island to a town called Forest Hills in Queens, the move was to make it easier for my father to commute to his job in Manhattan.

Learning to adjust to living in an apartment after living in a large house was difficult. Finding cliques, you belong to was an ordeal I had to go through. When once I was an outgoing, somewhat leader of my childhood friends, I became quieter and shy, not really knowing how to fit in.

My older brother Kevin made friends easily; one of his first friends who often came to the house was Glen. Glen was outgoing and naturally funny, always with a joke. It was Glen who gave me the nickname Kit Kat instead of Kate, whether I liked it or not. Not much older than me, he easily became a surrogate brother.

On this particular Saturday afternoon, I came home to hear a card game in the dining room, and as I walked in to say hi, there was Seth. At fourteen and being a tomboy most of my short life, an unknown feeling seemed to take hold and squeeze my heart.

When Glen saw me, he immediately introduced us. Hey, Seth, this is Kevin’s little sister Kate, but just call her Kit Kat because if you ever see her stretch, it’s like watching a kitten unwind itself. But what I heard was only, Hi, Kate," and his smile lit up the deepest blue eyes. He had long shaggy blonde hair, tanned skin, and a sweet voice that assaulted all my senses, and practically made me run from the room.

I saw Seth over the next two years, but I was nothing more than Kevin’s little sister until one day I wasn’t.

CHAPTER 1

2010

Top News: Earthquake rocks Haiti with over 220,000 deaths; Chilean miners trapped for over two months half a mile underground where rescued; BP oil has massive explosion on one of their oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana.

Music: Need You Now by Lady Antebellum, Hey Soul Sister by Train, TikTok by Kesha.

Movies: Nightmare on Elm Street, The Backup Plan, Wall Street, Dear John.

Sports: Saints win their first Super Bowl; Tiger Woods falls apart; Phil Mickelson wins his third Masters; Giants win the World Series.

Ihave made every excuse for the past two hours not to make this call. Jack has already called me three times. Just do it Kate, that’s an order from your husband, he laughed. I know you are nervous, but let’s get the results babe. Hang up the phone now and make the call. I love you K atie.

So, I dialed the familiar phone number. Hi, Jacki, it’s Kate Powers. Is Dr. Stein available? I asked my favorite receptionist in Scott’s office.

Hi Kate, he’s just finishing up and wants me to keep you on the phone if that’s okay, she replied.

No problem.

By the way, how’s the packing going? Are you guys excited? she asked.

We are almost done. We will leave in three weeks, so it’s paper plates for the next few weeks, and you can imagine how Mr. Restaurant Man is not thrilled with that! I laughed.

We sure are going to miss you both, Jacki said. Where did the last twenty years go? You guys are our favorite patients. Dr. Stein has already been complaining that he will miss your chili and Jack’s lasagna, she laughed.

Then I heard Scott’s voice in the background, Hey, you’re not supposed to tell her that! Say goodbye and transfer her to my office please.

Bye, Kate. Take care of yourself and enjoy your retirement.

Thank you for everything Jacki. Take care of our favorite doctor, and remember, there is always a bed if you and the family want to come down, I replied.

Hi Kate, I will get right to it. The test is negative. The tumor is gone, the area is clean, and you can get on with your new life with no worries, Scott stated with his best doctor voice. Somehow, I could feel his relief as well.

It took me a minute to let my breath out. Thank you Scott. The past few days have not been easy, I admitted to him.

I know, Kate. How are you feeling? Any pain? he asked.

No, just some tenderness under my arm where they removed the tumor, but it’s getting better, I responded.

OK, so here’s the deal. No heavy lifting for the next three weeks, and I mean that. Just pack lighter boxes. Tell Jack hands off for a bit longer, he laughed. What time is dinner tonight? Karen has threatened me with no sex for a month if I am late, Scott laughed again.

Scott was our lifelong friend and an incredible physician for Jack and me for twenty years. His wife Karen and I have been best friends since we were fourteen. She was the first person who extended a hand of friendship to me all those years ago, and we have been glued to one another since then. Tall and still thin with soft red hair and the bluest eyes, always complaining about the freckles she gets during the summer, Karen had a heart of gold but would drop you to the ground if you did her wrong, even now. We talked every day, sometimes more, and I will miss them both once we move.

Don’t forget Scott. You guys are coming down in September, so pick those days now because I won’t give you a pass if you wait and then tell us you are too busy. Jack is already having withdrawals not being able to see you every week. I chuckled.

We chatted for a few more minutes, and then Scott said, Seriously Kate. You are fine. Finish slowly taking care of business here and get ready for your new life and retirement.

My next calls were to Jack, who was thrilled and said that we would celebrate later, and then to Karen, who I guessed already knew as I assumed Scott called her as soon as he saw the pathology result. I spoke to my sister who was already emotional because of our upcoming move. I called two other close friends to give them the good news. Very few people were aware of my recent breast surgery.

Sitting here now, thinking of what Scott had said about unfinished business, I knew who I was finally going to call. A call that should have been made over thirty years ago. I began to scroll through my phone until I found his number. I listened as the phone rang, waiting to hear that long-ago voice, that had my heart racing.

Hi, Seth.

Kate, what a nice surprise, how are you? Amazing that after all these years he still recognizes my voice with nothing more than a simple hello. We exchanged the typical questions: how’s the wife, kids, Jack, my kids, but I knew I needed to get to why I called.

Seth, Jack and I are moving to North Carolina in three weeks. We both agreed it was time to retire. I just hung up with my doctor after a health scare which turned out negative, but before I leave, I wanted to ask if we could get together and have a talk and get to say goodbye. Do you think that is possible? I don’t want to cause any issues for you and Carly. Aside from us calling one another on our birthdays or rarely other times, the last time we saw one another was ten years ago at a reunion of our old friends.

Kate, you can stop rambling. He laughed. Yes, I would love to see you before you move. Carly is going on a girls’ weekend trip with a few friends next week. Any chance we can meet on Saturday?

Yes, that’s perfect. Jack is going to be tied up for the next two weeks with the transfer of the restaurants. I thought I would call Glen and ask if we could meet at his condo. I can bring some lunch, and we can sit and catch up, I replied.

A few minutes later we hung up with plans to meet. I called Glen next. We remained the closest of friends all these years. He and Karen dated when they were younger, but they both realized after two years that they were better friends than marriage material and while they went their separate ways, they remained good friends.

Seth and Glen were closest when we were young, but they moved in different directions after Seth got married. Glen also stated he was not overly fond of Carly, Seth’s second wife, so the times they saw one another grew longer and further apart.

Having been engaged once for a short time, Glen became the consummate bachelor traveling for his job and dating women everywhere. Glen and Jack also became best friends over the years.

So, Kit Kat, after all these years, you are going to finally tell Seth why you ran all those years ago. Good for you.

Glen, it’s been over thirty years. He has been this shadow that has circled my dreams for so long, it’s time. I need to finally have those missing pieces of my life filled in.

Kate, I think you have been a shadow for him as well, and I think it’s good that he can finally know the truth. I kept your secret for so many years, as I kept his back then, Glen replied. I will leave my key under the second potted plant on the side of the house. Why don’t you plan on staying? We can have an early dinner together. I will return to the house around five-thirty.

One week later, the doorbell rang, and I opened the door of Glen’s townhouse. There was the boy, now a grandfather, enfolding me in a bear hug. It’s funny, even after all these years there was no nervousness on my part, as if time apart ceased to exist. At that very moment, I just missed my once-upon-a-time best friend. The boy I could always talk to about anything until the end when I could not.

Seth handed me a beautiful arrangement of white daisies wrapped in yellow ribbon. You remembered, was all I could say.

Seth laughed and said, "How could I forget? They were the cheapest flowers to buy you back then, but they always made you smile. You know when the movie, You’ve Got Mail came out, and Meg Ryan told Tom Hanks that daisies were her favorite flower because they made her smile, I always thought of you."

OK, who goes first to catch up on our families? I laughed as we sat down. Seth’s wife Carly was a difficult subject. When I met her years ago at our friend’s reunion, she was borderline rude to me.

***

When a dozen of our old friends planned to come up from all over the place to help celebrate the opening of our first restaurant, Jack’s Place, she was upset that Seth wanted to go. I remember asking him at that time, What the hell Seth? She is your second wife and you have been together for fifteen years. What does she even know about me to dislike me this much?

He told me that when Carly asked him why we broke up, he said to her when Kate confessed to me, she was marrying someone else, I said that’s it we are breaking up.

I don’t know why she reacts the way she does Kate, so let’s not even talk about it, Seth replied.

So, we stuck to safe topics: his kids, his grandchildren, Jack, my kids, our upcoming retirement. Once we finished eating, I sat on the couch and turned to him. Seth, I need to tell you a story. You can join in, ask me questions, or just listen. It’s up to you.

Kate, he laughed, are you going to start with once upon a time?

So, I took a deep breath, unlocked my memories, and began. "Seth, all those years ago, I had been so helplessly in love with you at such a young age. I tried dating in high school but just had no interest. Then suddenly things changed, do you remember when? It was after my sixteenth birthday…

CHAPTER 2

1971 The Start of Me and You

Seth

I don’t know when I first noticed how much Kate was changing from that skinny tomboy I met when she was fourteen. I think it was the day of her sweet sixteen. I was headed toward her apartment building when I saw her walking out of the lobby with Karen, her best friend, and Glen, who was mine. They had started to date a few months earlier, and so of course he was invited to Kate’s party with Karen. I felt myself stumble when I got a full view of Kate. Her blonde hair was out of her perpetual braid and hung softly down her back. She had makeup on making her green eyes look so big, with a soft shade of a glossy pink on her lips. But everything failed in comparison to her dress that made me stop, the prettiest shade of blue that hugged her body.

Jesus! When did Kate grow breasts? Her body was lean and trim. She had on heels and was laughing at something Glen was saying. I was tongue-tied and embarrassed as I felt my body responding to Kate’s. When Kate turned those green eyes on me, I wanted to say something funny, but I couldn’t come up with anything. So, I simply wished her a happy birthday, gave her a quick hug, and told her to have a great time; but I stopped her a second later and told her how great she looked.

Or perhaps it was a week later when a bunch of us drove out to Long Beach for the day. Kate pulled off her sweatshirt as the coolness of the morning warmed up, and she was wearing a red and white bikini. She always wore a one-piece. While the guys were laughing and whistling at her, for some reason, I just wanted to walk over and cover her up.

I spent most of that afternoon just watching her being Kate, laughing out loud, debating with the guys over the Yankees, or jumping through the waves like a kid.

Because Karen was dating Glen now as a few of the younger girls in Kate’s group were dating friends of mine, there was a shift in the dynamics in the group age that we were all intermingled.

There was only a year’s difference between Kate and I, but it always seemed like more until now. I found myself spending more time with Kate during the next few months. Discovering a young girl who seemed sure about herself. She was passionate about those she loved; dogs, the conflict in Israel, the Yankees, and always a protector of someone being bullied. She cried at movies or a section in a sappy book, and more often than not, I found myself comforting her even as I joked around with her. She played one hell of a racquetball game, and I watched her bowl a few times on the girls’ team. She had an unbelievable hook at this young age.

Kate dreamed about becoming a nurse, and it was amazing to listen to her talk about what she wished for her future.

I found myself talking to Kate about a girl in my class, Victoria, who I had a crush on for the past year, but I knew she was unapproachable. I heard through another classmate that her parents were strict, and she was not allowed to date. I was complaining to Kate about this again one day and was surprised when she erupted at me to move on and walked away from me.

My feelings for Kate were confusing at best. It was several days before she would hang around with me again, and when I asked Karen what was up, she just looked at me strangely and said she couldn’t answer for Kate.

Before Kate’s seventeenth birthday, I found myself sitting quietly with her one afternoon, just the two of us. I told her about my younger sister Jessica, who died at