Giving him the benefit of the doubt.

As the clock struck 5PM yesterday afternoon I weighed my options about calling Rico Suave. Had he called me while I was in Cancun he would have heard a message that "this phone is out of service." I know this because several of my friends reported that they had received that very message. Unlike Rico Suave, these loyal buddies know this is my true phone number and not some scam number I gave them as a practical joke. That being said, I thought I had better just swallow my pride on this one because after all, I was the one that asked him out (and also because I knew he was at work so all I would have to do was leave a breezy message that HE would have to return).

After carefully planning out what I would say and writing it out in large lettering on a piece of paper in front of me (in an effort to avoid leaving one of my infamous long-winded, incoherent messages) I paged down in my phone's address book where I had entered his number and with bated breath, dialed.

I can't be sure what the answering machine message actually said; however, I was immediately aware that the voice on the recording was a woman's and that it advised callers with questions to call Albion Realty at an alternate number.

Immediately panic ensued.

Whose number was this? How embarrassing would it be if I left a message asking Rico out for a date on a sham voice mail? Rather than risk it, I quickly hung up as shock slowly made its evil way through my body and into my fingers and toes.

Immediately I called my friends Moody St. Claire and Hope Valentine to get their advise on the situation. Both were shocked and dismayed that a person who had shown such overt interest could behave so badly. I vaguely remember using words like "insidious" and "inhumane" to describe such a thing-but all along I was mostly just shocked. Rico had never seemed like the type of person who could flagrantly lead a person on, play with their emotions, and then give them the shaft in such an immature and cruel way. Maybe I was just being naive, but I couldn't believe it.

My first impulse was to march into the store and throw wine in his face (which I would have had to supply, because the store only sells beer and soda), but both friends advised me to just let it go, because the kind of person who would give a girl a fake number after so convincingly leading her to believe he was interested was just not worth wasting perfectly good wine on(maybe a Franzia, but certainly not chardonnay).


On my drive to apartment from my parents house I got a call from the rouge number I had once thought belonged to Rico. It was the same woman who was on the voice mail asking if I had called. I quickly explained that I had misdialed and thought I was calling a friend. And that was that.

After I got back to my apartment I couldn't help but feel that maybe Moody and Hope (even with the best of intentions) were not right about the whole situation. Normally I would think I was deluding myself, but in this case I just couldn't accept that Rico, who had always seemed so friendly and open, was really just a bi-polar maniac. So in search of a third opinion, I decided to give my friend Peppermint Patty a buzz. A constant voice of reason, she agreed that it was highly unlikely someone could so quickly go from hero to zero and told me follow my instincts and go into the store. We quickly formed a plan that I would act natural, and see if he brought it up-if he didn't, no harm done and I had my resolution-if he did, perhaps it was all a misunderstanding(after all he is living with his brother, maybe that was his brother's wife?).

Bravely I marched into the store with the cover story that there was no food in my apartment and I needed something to eat (clever, I know). Per usual, Rico was behind the register while his friend was working the aisle. Quickly I grabbed a Diet Coke and some crackers and headed to stand in line at the register. Rico's friend gave me a slight smile, so I forced myself to say hello and then stepped up to pay. Rico warmly greeted me and asked how I was, I said I had just gotten back into town and there was nothing to eat in my apartment. He said "Wow, we really need to take you out to dinner soon then, get you something to eat." I laughed, and said, "Yeah well." He asked me about my trip and I told him my horseback riding story (see "Little Miss Westchester goes to Cancun").

Then, after a pause, he tilted his head to the side and asked if I had called. Rather than risk possible humiliation, I lied and said I had not. Then shrugging my shoulders and putting my hand over my mouth I apologetically admitted that in my rush to pack for Cancun I had lost the card with his number (this was actually not a lie since in an act of relationship cleansing I had flushed it down the toilet). He then admitted that he too had lost my number and then asked if he could have permission to ask for my number again.

So I gave it to him.

Maybe I am fooling myself, and maybe Rico really is a cad. But I have three wonderful brothers and a great father, and in the spirit of father's day, I thought I would give a man the benefit of the doubt and offer him a very unique second chance.