Time wore on and Mitch and Danny continued not to be so lucky in love. Because Danny was such a good-looking guy, he didn’t have any trouble getting dates, but when he saw the relationship Tony had with Emily, he knew that real love was worth the wait. Mitch was a bit of a perfectionist, and was convinced he would know the right woman on sight when she came along. Danny told him he had been reading too many of those weird books he was always talking about, but Mitch was unshakable in his conviction. So there they were, both reasonably good catches in their twenties who had outgrown the dating game. And that’s how they found themselves on a Friday night with nothing to do.

After hoops that night, Danny mentioned he’d run into a girl he knew from his childhood, who had told him about a club up in Putin-Bay, on Lake Erie, where they had terrific live music every Friday night. It was called Lakeside Bar, and she had suggested they check it out. Initially Mitch wasn’t very interested, until Danny told him that Macon Peach, an Allman Brothers cover band, would be playing. They were supposed to be incredible; the two guitarists could knock off the harmonic lead guitar parts note for note. Mitch liked Southern rock a lot, but he absolutely loved the Allman Brothers, so he was sold.

As they expected, the dance floor was crowded when they got there, and Danny looked around for his friend, Carolyn Hamilton. Danny felt a special bond with Carolyn because of her father’s visits when they were at Chillicothe, though they never talked about that time. Finally he spotted her across the floor, with an entourage of guys circling her. When she saw Danny, she ran over and told him how glad she was that he had made it because she had someone she wanted to introduce—or rather reintroduce—to him.

“Reintroduce, what do you mean?”

“A long time ago, when you were leaving the field after a game, I introduced you to my good friend Rachel, but you were too busy running off to a keg party to notice,” she said, with a laugh.

“Well that sounds like me, back then. By the way, I want you to meet my friend, Mitch.”

All this time Mitch had been standing there, admiring Carolyn’s golden hair, deep-blue eyes, and great shape, feeling a little like Michael Corleone when he was struck by the thunderbolt. He was smitten just looking at her, but then when she laughed and smiled, and he heard her voice, he literally felt a flash. He felt as if he had known her all his life, though he had yet to say a word to her. He knew she was the one he had been searching for.

Mitch, who was normally quite talkative, was speechless. He opened his mouth and out came a sort of croaking sound, leading Carolyn to cup her ear and shout, “What did you say?” The music was pretty loud, so that gave him a chance to regroup.