Sometimes when you least expect it things come together just perfectly. More often than not, they don't.

"Where is that bum!" The woman who came through the door screaming was irate. She was not an unattractive woman, even wearing a plain housedress. Clearly, she was not here to socialize. It was mid-morning anyway and hardly our social hour. In fact, there were no customers at all yet. The lunch crowd was probably an hour away.

"Looking for Freddy, Sally?" Jolene said calmly, completely unfazed by the woman's anger.

"Is he here?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure he will be. Do you want to wait on him? We can go in the living room and you can tell me all about it." The woman nodded and she and Jolene disappeared into the room around the corner where our extra seating is and where we host entertainment at night. I suspected I might be missing a fairly entertaining conversation at that.

They were in there chatting for about half an hour. When they came back into the bar, Sally was a lot calmer. They were both apologizing to each other saying they had to get back to work.

"And pass that message on to Freddy for me will you Jolene?" Sally added as she headed out the door.

"I take it that was Freddy's wife? What did she want?" I questioned Jolene as she went back to cleaning up behind the bar.

"She wants Freddy to kick-in for half their house payment," Jolene explained.

"But Freddy doesn't live there anymore," I question.

"Well the house is in both their names and if they go through with the divorce, she will have to sell it and he will still get half," Jolene pointed out.

I noted that Jolene did say "if they go through with the divorce"; so, I suspected she may have some doubts and asked. "So, do you think they will go through with it?"

"Don't know," she shrugged. "They were having problems even before Freddy tried to dig up his ex-girlfriend. That was just the excuse Sally used to finally do something."

"What was the problem? Freddy seems like a nice enough guy. Maybe he is not the brightest light on the porch and he is certainly impulsive, but I'm sure there are worse mates."

"Nah, it's none of those things. Sally can be just as impulsive. After all, she married Freddy." Jolene gave me a look to make sure I was following her, then she continued, "Wattage wise, they are probably both in the energy saving category even with the two of them together it would be a dimly lit porch. No, I think the main thing is that Sally wants to have Kids and Freddy doesn't. She wants to quit her job and be a full-time stay-at-home mom."

Ironically, it was that afternoon that another mysterious visitor came in. He was middle aged, well dressed or at least better dressed than we normally get and he too looked a bit distraught. He sat at the bar and waited for me to get to him.

"What can I get you?" I asked.

"I'm looking for Destiny. I was told she is working here?"

"She won't be in until later tonight," I informed him and began polishing the bar and studying the stranger to determine if he was a stalker or some such. "Can I ask why you are looking for her?"

"She's my wife," he said. I raised my eyebrows questioningly so he added, "We're separated." He let that sink in and said, "You know, I'll come back later," he finished and started to leave.

"Wait," I stopped him. "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions about Destiny? I am her boss and if there is anything going on in her life that I should know about, I'd like to find out sooner than later."

He thought about it and said, "I guess it depends on the questions. In return maybe you could fill me in on what she's been up to. Honestly the reason I was trying to catch her here at work was to see firsthand how she is doing. Maybe you can help me with that?"

He sat down at the bar again and ordered a beer. He introduced himself as Dexter Copeland and said I could call him Dex which made it easy for me to remember since Dex was nearly an acronym for Destiny's ex. I got him his beer and filled him in on what I knew of Destiny which wasn't very much. As the beer began to do it's magic, he loosened up a bit and gave me their story. When they met, Destiny was just out of high school. He was twelve years older than Destiny. His wife had just died and he had two small kids to take care of and a job that forced him to travel all over the world. He needed a wife badly. She was taken with the idea of traveling the world. It seemed like a perfect fit at the time.

Apparently, that was twelve years ago. According to him, Destiny did not really want to be a mother and housewife, but despite that she was great at it and did a great job of raising his two kids.

He was about halfway through his beer as he finished his story, "Our oldest is starting tenth grade next year and we both decided it was time to find a place to settle so the kids could have a normal high school experience. It is not fair to them to keep dragging them all over the world. I suggested that while I was between assignments and could look after the kids, Destiny could take some time to get away from us and use that time to check out some locations where we might settle down. She caught me by surprise and suggested a trial separation instead. She had not been really happy for some time. I think now that the kids were older, she realized all that she had missed out on in her young-adult years. She said she would use the time to check out some locations for the kids but to also take a shot at the music career she had always dreamed of. She deserved some time to herself; so, I went along with it. She came out here to put some distance between us to make it difficult for her to change her mind. She called me and told me when she got the job here. I sent the kids to my folks and came out to check on Destiny and to check this area out."

He concluded saying, "Honestly, I hope this whole music career thing falls apart. I need her back. She is the only mother the kids have known."

I noted that he never said anything about love. He was the pragmatic type and was clearly focused on his practical need for someone to take care of his children. He finished his beer and as he was leaving said, "This seems like a really nice area for kids. I'll probably hang around for a while and check it out further. I'm staying at a hotel now. Can you recommend someplace I could rent on a longer-term basis – preferably in a family neighborhood?"

"Not off the top of my head, but I'll ask around," I told him as he left.

Now, if you are thinking "Oh wow!" what a coincidence, we have a woman who wants nothing more than to be a housewife and raise a family and a guy who needs just such a woman and on top of that, their respective exes have shown some interest in each other. Well, then you are thinking just like Jolene and I did. So maybe you'll understand the mistakes we were about to make. Mistakes? Oh no! Oh yes!