Part 2

Eden was about to turn 30 on Monday. She dreaded the birthday and for the longest, she ignored it, pretending that by ignoring the event, it wouldn’t really occur. But occur it did.

It wasn’t that Eden really had a problem with turning 30. She had a good life and was proud of being where she was at the age she was turning.

Eden had just made Junior Partner at her law firm, after being on the fast track for six years. She had a nice house, excellent credit, a nice savings account and a big, fat red Benz.

But she had an empty heart.

Her bed was just as empty because she had decided upon graduating from law school at 24, that no man would share her bed unless he was planning to share her life. Her first love had shared her bed, but had no desire to marry her, leaving her with a broken heart and broken dreams.

After six years of focusing on her career, the desire to be a wife and mother returned with a vengeance to visit her on the thirtieth anniversary of her life.

Ryan had turned 30 two months ago.

For him, it was a blessed event.

Ryan’s Internet marketing firm had gone public and became a cash cow, leaving him with a life full of promises and a posse of women who wanted whatever part of him they could get.

Ryan had never had a problem with the ladies, but now that he had a bit of fame and a lot of cash from his business dealings, the ladies came even easier. Some came for the good times and some came for the possibility of being his woman or his wife, but they all left with the same thing-simple nights of sex and a few days or weeks of fun.

There was no commitment in what Ryan offered to any woman.

In fact, he never considered the women who came to him for possible relationships. And, none had really caught his attention the way Eden did when he first laid eyes on her.

Eden was dressed to the teeth at the American Music Awards, accompanying a group from one of her corporate clients. They were all White men and Eden stood out majestically with her golden brown skin and crown of reddish hair.

Ryan knew two of the men in her group and stopped them to chat briefly about his firm and the direction it might take. He chatted with them, but he could not stop looking at Eden.

She played it very cool, but she was definitely checking him out as well.

Published in : Op-Ed, The Bridge