Dear Reader,

Today’s guest author, Matthew Norman lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with his wife and two children and holds an MFA from George Mason University. His previous novels include ‘Charm City Rocks,’ ‘All Together Now,’ ‘Last Couple Standing,’ ‘We’re All Damaged,’ and ‘Domestic Violets.’

His new title is ‘Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon…’ a sentimental advertising creative and a blunt, no-nonsense bar owner find a second chance at love while binge-watching iconic holiday movies in this poignant and heartwarming romance.

Small Decisions

Recently I started sketching out a novel idea that explored how impactful even the tiniest decisions can end up being. You step onto an Amtrak train. Normally you turn left, but on this day you turn right, which leads you to a seat next to the person with whom you spend the rest of your life. Etc.

I ended up ditching the idea because I realized I was basically rehashing a Gwenyth Paltrow movie called ‘Sliding Doors.’ The concept, though, has lingered, and now here I am writing about how I met my wife.

It was Super Bowl Sunday, 2005, and I didn’t have plans. I’d recently finished grad school in Northern Virginia. While I had some acquittances, I was a transplant from the Midwest, so I hadn’t established a core group of friends. As an introvert, four hours alone watching football normally wouldn’t have struck me as a terrible thing. That day, though, for some reason, I felt I should be social.

I remembered a guy I knew up in Baltimore named Rob. It feels ridiculous now to refer to Rob as “a guy I knew up in Baltimore” because he’s now one of my best friends. When I called him–no small feat for an introvert–Rob told me he was going to a party.

“You should come?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not? Bring some dip or something.”

I briefly had second thoughts. I’d know barely anyone. Traffic was bound to be a pain in the ass. But, well…it was the Super Bowl.

Later, when I arrived at Rob’s, he told me we needed to swing by Federal Hill first to pick up “the two Kates.”

“The two Kates?”

He reminded me that I knew one of the Kates–we’d met before. She’d recently gotten a new roommate whose name was also Kate.

“You’ll like her,” Rob said. “She’s cool.”

We double parked when we got to Federal Hill, because parking is always a disaster over there. Rob rang the doorbell. The Kate I knew answered and invited us in. A yellow lab trotted over to say hello.

“That’s Grady,” Kate said. “He’s Kate’s dog.”

I walked down a narrow hallway. The other Kate was sitting at the kitchen table reading. She wore jeans and one of those long-sleeve t-shirts you get at charity runs. She looked up at me–her face neutral, but friendly. When I think about this moment now everything is in slow motion.

“Hello,” Kate said.

“Hey,” I replied.

This February we’ll watch our twenty-second Super Bowl together.

— Matthew Norman

Thanks for reading with me. It’s so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com