I stopped.
Then kept reading.
I was married before I met you.
I lowered the paper.
“Married?”
Mr. Geller said nothing.
Irene explained that when she was eighteen, she had married her high-school boyfriend.
The marriage lasted only a few months.
They fought.
Separated.
Signed papers.
And both believed they had divorced.
Except the final decree had never been properly entered.
Irene thought the marriage was finished.
Then she met me.
That part of our story I remembered perfectly.
I first saw her in college.
She was sitting three rows ahead of me, laughing with a friend.
I stared long enough that she eventually caught me.
Months later, when I finally asked her on a date, she smiled and said:
“Took you long enough.”
Not long after that, I joined the Army.
When I learned I would be leaving for Vietnam, I told Irene I wanted to marry her before I went.
