Mr. Ballin

Eight years earlier, he had slipped into a rut of serious binge drinking and gambling.

And

One day when he was drunk, he had actually struck his wife.

Following that, his wife had divorced him and he'd lost custody of his daughter, Alabama, who was now 12 years old.

After that, Patrick's life really did not get any better.

He had moved in with his elderly mother and his drinking had only gotten worse and his gambling continued to the point where he basically gambled away most of what he made by working as a hospital janitor.

And then after that, he'd gotten involved with a married co-worker.

And then when her husband found out about this affair, she died of an apparent suicide.

Her death had been five years earlier, and it had been so traumatic that Patryk had barely dated since.

He had just about resigned himself to a life of bachelorhood, when actually a few weeks earlier, he had gotten a call from the woman he was now going to meet, Audrey LeVay.

But Patryk was now running so late for his date that he worried Audrey might not wait around for him.

So he twisted the throttle of his scooter and shot across an intersection, ignoring more honks from more cars.

Patryk had actually met Audrey a long time ago, right after his divorce.

And they'd gone out a handful of times before they ultimately lost touch.

She was a lot younger than he was, and she'd stood him up more than once in the past.

But she was also a lot of fun, and it had been a while since Patryk had been on a date.

So when she called him up saying she wanted to go out again, Patryk had said, sure.

They'd made plans to meet this afternoon at a park near Patrik's work that had this big rocky hill rising behind it.

And the place had some of the best views in the whole city, with the ocean on one side and dramatic cliffs dotted with all these old caves on the other.

Now, they were not going to have a whole lot of time together, probably just enough for a short walk before Patrik would have to rush off for his daughter's dance recital later that night.