Flipped

by Wendelin Van Draanen

“No! I …” I turned to him and said, “How did you fall in love with your wife?” He poured some Navajo White into his can and smiled. “Ah,” he said. “Boy problems.” “I do not have boy problems!” He hesitated but didn’t argue. Instead, he said, “I fell in love with her by mistake.” “By mistake? What do you mean?” “I didn’t intend to. At the time I was engaged to somebody else, and in no position to fall in love. Fortunately for me I saw how blind I’d been before it was too late.” “Blind?” “Yes. My fiancée was very beautiful. She had the most magnificent brown eyes, and skin like an angel. And for a time all I could see was her beauty. But then … well, let’s just say I discovered she wasn’t a fraction of the person Renée was.” He dipped his brush in the coffee can and stroked a picket with paint. “It’s easy to look back and see it, and it’s easy to give the advice, but the sad fact is, most people don’t look beneath the surface until it’s too late.”