And then there was Amber seated at one of the bleachers. Of course she would attend the performance. It was to be expected, and the usual protocols of secrecy would be followed. But while approaching the bleachers, Jim took notice of another person who joined Amber for the evening. It was a woman who appeared to be a family member of Amber's, perhaps her older sister. Jim didn't get much of a chance to look closely at this supposed sister of Amber's as he was careful not to call any attention of the connection shared between him and the mistress. Amber returned no eye contact as Jim passed as well. She was probably maintaining a low profile while in the presence of family. It was understandable for Jim. At least Amber knew how to play the game of forbidden romance.
How could Jim have been so stupid in his two weeks of predawn rose petal assaults? That blasted Ms. Lutrova had to open her mouth and expose her secret admirer! The more Jim thought about it, the more he realized that the concierge probably wasn't under telepathic control by the woman. He was probably Ms. Lutrova's own boyfriend!
See what happens when an ordinary person who knows nothing of magick casts a love spell? As he or she may or may not realize, threefold karma returns as desperate thoughts and speculations racing along with the game of “loves me, loves me not”. And it was about to get worse!
Not more than two minutes after finding a place to sit down and settle for the performance, Jim slightly glanced towards Amber's direction and was startled to see her sister carefully studying him. She made no effort to be inconspicuous. Apparently, this woman felt that if curious of anything, she should have every right to look and examine. Jim could do nothing but return a deer-in-the-headlights, confused look. In doing so, he was able to get a better look of the woman. With a face just as pale as Amber's, she had long, radiant-red hair with deep-brown eyes. There was almost something mesmerizing of her appearance, as-if she could place one's mind in a suspended state.
Oh no! Somehow Amber's sister had become aware of Jim's rose petal assault as well. Ms. Lutrova told her concierge boyfriend who told someone else, then another… then so on, and so on, and so on! By now, Amber probably knew of it as well. That's why she made no eye contact with him. She was angry and quite possibly finished with him. And how long would it be before Jim's precious Kimberly discovered the truth? How he wished not to have delivered those rose petals.
But then his thoughts shifted along with another swing of paranoia.
Jim could nearly hear Amber's, sister's thoughts. “So that's the man… the man Amber has been speaking of recently.” In a psychic world, direct words really aren't received as some telepathic text message. Thoughts are somewhat felt with much interference and error. Jim wasn't sure of how much Amber told her sister, much less whether or not she did say something. But the woman seated next to Amber was aware of something.
Then again, maybe Amber told her nothing. Perhaps she merely shared the same intuitive gift as Amber and picked up Jim's interest in her sister. That was the most logical explanation. Such horror! Jim slightly failed in protecting Amber. He would have to make a greater effort in keeping his feelings secret.
With Amber and her sister seated together, Jim couldn't help but notice how strikingly odd the two were. There was almost something mystical of their presence. For a lack of better words, there was an eerie psycho-kinetic vibe emitted from both.
Appearing satisfied with her study, Amber's sister faced forward. Jim turned his attention to the orchestra, soon his precious daughter, April. The performance had yet to start for the evening. He waved at April and received a wave in return. And then from another area of the room, Jim could feel a presence carefully examining him. Who was it this time? Turning towards the direction, Jim soon realized that Amber's daughter, Trista, now had a fixed gaze on him. And she wasn't merely looking in Jim's direction. Trista's eyes had full contact on him with an expression of awe and wonder.
Oh no! Even Amber's daughter heard of the rose petal assault. Did April find out through indirect gossip from the kids? Trapped in some lonely fantasy brought on by his own love spell, everyone seemed to be against him that night.
Chapter 26
Christmas is a special time of year when wishes materialize and people finally come together. At least it's supposed to work this way in Amber's world. Although Amber would have preferred to awaken Christmas morning with Trista's father beside her, Christmas dinner that year was to be held on the evening of Tuesday, December 22. Hoping for miracles is a nice, but surely Jim would have to spend the holiday with that other woman he currently lived with.
As always, it was easy for Jim to leave the house. Simply announce some bogus cable outage, and he was a free man for the evening. Jim knocked on Amber's door, dressed in his Ivan Trovsksov attire—baggy, wool pants; double-breasted, black, wool coat; black, shiny boots and now a furry, Russian hat. This strange wardrobe of Jim's had much more of an effect on people than you might realize, and really shrouded his motives. For one; his wife, Kimberly, came to view this style of clothing as his work clothes. No one, after all, would wear that ridiculous attire for anything other than working outdoors. She certainly had no reason to fear of her husband going to see a possible mistress. Who would find him attractive dressed up as some goofy-looking polock?
As for Amber, Jim's strange wardrobe put her at ease as it reminded her that he deliberately dressed this way to rebel against the woman he lived with. It was a fashion statement that probably challenged Kimberly's wishes. She probably made all sorts of comments against Jim's style of clothing along with the simple things he enjoyed in life. And for all that it represented, Amber was developing a fondness for Jim's style.
She opened the front door to let Jim in, “Hey, Merry Christmas!”
Jim entered the house and then leaned in for a kiss. “Merry Christmas.”
Amber pet the furry, Russian hat on Jim's head. “Nice hat! I love it! Where'd you get it?”
“At Walmart. They were a running a sale that day; only $5.99.” While speaking, Jim removed his hat and coat.
Amber took the items and hung them in the guest closet. That's when she saw his unflattering Fruit-of-the-Loom, white undershirt with suspenders stretched across the front and back. For Christmas, maybe he could have worn something a little nicer. But hey, the other woman apparently did not like it. For now, Amber wasn't going to say anything.
The scent of toasted garlic hung in the air as Jim and Amber entered the kitchen. Apparently, garlic bread was one of the items for their Christmas dinner. Over the stove, a large pot of water was at a roaring boil. A sauce pan lowly simmered beside it. “Let's see if those noodles are done.” Amber announced.
“So what's for dinner?” Jim was quite hungry after his long day out in the field.
“Spaghetti with meat sauce; and I have some garlic bread toasting in the oven.” While answering, Amber pulled a couple noodles from the boiling water and blew on them before tasting. “We'll have salad before dinner.” She chewed the noodles. “Al dente!”
What was this? Spaghetti and garlic bread for Christmas dinner? The salad was probably the cheap stuff that comes out of the bag! Apparently, Jim is high maintenance and hoped for a nice baked ham. Maybe he even wondered if there would be pumpkin pie for dessert. He was polite for the moment and commented, “Mmm… sounds yummy!” Then he asked, “Did you make some pie, too?”
Amber paused. “Pie? No, I have some cranberry sherbet in the freezer.”
Cranberry sherbet for Christmas dessert? Jim was really disappointed! Kimberly would have had a nice, spiral baked ham with homemade, extra-cheesy au gratin potatoes along with candied yams and green bean casserole. Dessert would have been any number of things. But as a rule, she always had a freshly-baked pumpkin pie and pecan pie! Jim could have done one of two things at that moment. He could have been polite and shown respect for the modest dinner that Amber (who was on a limited budget) made for their Christmas (which they really weren't supposed to be celebrating). Or Jim could have used the moment
to be more appreciative of his own wife and realized that losing her to Amber would mean having modest dinners every night. Between you and me, Kimberly was a much, better cook than Amber!
And Kimberly didn't speak white lies, either.
“So where's your daughter, tonight?” Jim asked.
“Trista, you mean?” Amber dumped the steamy spaghetti noodles in the strainer. “She's over at a friend's house; won't be home until around ten o'clock. Really it's not such a terrible thing for her to be around when you're here. Just something to think about.”
Jim smiled in return, obviously uncomfortable with suggestion. Trista went to the same school as April and played in the orchestra as well. Kids talk, and…
“Here, why don't we pour the wine and get the party started?” Amber had a four liter bottle of Carlo Rossi Paisano and poured a glass for her and Jim.
“Do you have beer?” Ivan Trovskov was a real man and wasn't particularly fond of wine. Wine in his erroneous perception was for the ladies. But Jim was only an Ivan Trovsksov want-to-be. In those parts of the world that he secretly glorified, beer was drunk by children or maybe enjoyed by workers during lunch break as soda. A real Ivan Trovskov drinks vodka with dinner! But the true American man that he was, Jim preferred beer.
“Beer?” Amber set Jim's glass down. “Oh, I'm sorry; I got wine for us. What was I thinking? You don't like wine!”
“That's okay.” reassured Jim. “I'll gladly drink wine for our Christmas dinner.” He took the glass and raised it. “Merry Christmas!”
Amber clinked her glass to his. “Merry Christmas!”
They took a couple gulps and enjoyed a couple kisses afterwards.
“Go ahead and have a seat at the table. We'll have salad first.” Amber gulped a little more wine and refilled her glass before setting it on the table. And she topped Jim's glass off as well. Was she trying to get Jim drunk for the evening? Maybe their Christmas celebration was going to be what Jim waited for all along!
“We have French, thousand island and Italian.”
“Do you have blue cheese?” asked Jim.
“No, we're not fond of blue cheese around here.”
“I guess I'll take thousand island.” Ivan Trovskov didn't look happy and took a few gulps of his girly wine.
Amber was secretly growing impatient with Jim's rudeness. Why was it so difficult to make this man happy? She sat down and poured Italian dressing on her salad and then dumped croutons on top.
Jim softly cleared his throat. “So what are you and your daughter doing for Christmas?”
“Trista, you mean?”
Suddenly, the front door opened!
Jim nearly flew out of his seat and almost ran for the back room.
“Sit!” Amber ordered.
Jim stared in return.
“Sit! I will take care of this.” Amber walked towards the family room. But it was too late. Trista already had full view of her suspected father seated at the kitchen table and appeared very surprised. All Jim could do was silently watch and wonder just how Amber was going to handle this.
All Amber said to her daughter: “We're having spaghetti, your favorite.” And from what Jim could see by the expression of terror on Trista's face, Amber communicated something to her through eyes alone. It must have been a silent threat not to mess up the evening or tell anyone at school. Then she finally spoke. “You've seen Jim before. We're having him join us for dinner tonight.”
Suddenly, Jim realized that Trista's surprise arrival home wasn't such a surprise. Amber planned it this way so that Trista would join the two of them for Christmas dinner.
Appearing confused and uncomfortable with the situation, Trista followed her mother over to the cupboard.
But Amber ordered, “Have a seat. I'll fix you a salad.”
Then, as Trista cautiously walked to the table, Amber dropped—nearly threw—Trista's empty salad bowl onto the counter and turned towards her daughter.
The noise startled Trista, causing her to slightly jolt.
“You got into Nick's car and rode around with him, didn't you?”
“No I didn't! What are you talking about?”
Amber approached her daughter like a tiger about to pounce its prey. “Don't you lie to me. I told you that I do not like that boy one bit, and ordered you not to be around him. And you ride around in his car?”
“Mom, I was not with Nick tonight?
There was a foolproof test to determine if Trista was lying. “Let me see your palms.”
“Mom, I was not with Nick. Why don't you believe me?”
“Your palms; let me see them!”
Trista held out her palms as Mother demanded.
Mother felt them. “Why are your palms sweaty? You're lying!”
“Mom, I'm not lying! I swear to God I was not with Nick!”
A woman like Amber knows not to swear to God unless one means it. Doing otherwise only asks for trouble. Amber screeched, “Blasphemy!” Then she hauled off and smacked her child across the face just like her own mother would have done years ago.
Jim was in shock at what he saw. “Hey, take it easy!” Kimberly never hit April or Collin, and neither did Jim.
“Stay out of this!” Amber snapped back. “Don't you tell me what I can and can't do with her!” In all the years of his absence, suddenly Jim was going to breeze in and know what was good for his daughter? Amber glared back at Trista who now sniffled and wiped away her tears. “You're grounded until Christmas morning! That'll give you something to think about. If I catch you with that Nick again, you'll be grounded the entire Christmas break and through Valentine's Day. Now sit down!”
With everyone seated and eating their salads, the first couple minutes of Christmas dinner was mostly silent. It was time for Amber to bring Father up to speed. “That boy, Nick, is no good. He was kicked off the football team because he was caught with marijuana. And from someone else's mother, I found out that it's not the first time he was caught with pot. Not only that, I saw his name last year in the police blotter for vandalism—lawn job. Is that someone you'd want your daughter being around?”
Needless to say, Jim was taken out of his comfort zone. He felt as though Amber was using him as some male reinforcement in her daughter's life. “Well…” Immediately, Jim began to think of his own daughter. What if this Nick tried dating April? “What's this kid's last name?”
“Bostas.” answered Amber.
“Well, I wouldn't want my daughter around him. Kids like that attract the wrong crowd. Plus he could be stoned and get in a car accident with you riding.”
Amber fully nodded. “Mm-hmm!”
Then Jim asked Trista, “Do you know my daughter, April?”
Trista was a bit hesitant before answering. “Just in orchestra. We're not friends, just acquaintances.”
Jim could have asked a thousand other questions about April and whether or not the other kids know things—things about him and Amber… things about Ms. Lutrova! But it was best to leave it alone for the moment.
* * *
After dinner, Jim had a slight Carlo Rossi Paisano buzz going. It was time to slow down as he did need to return home to his wife.
Amber, Trista and Jim all went into the family room to sit around the tree. Immediately, Jim was given a stack of presents. Apparently he was very special to Amber.
“Oh, you shouldn't have! I didn't know we were… Gosh, I didn't even get you presents!”
“That's okay.” reassured Amber.
Trista silently watched the scene play out. For being out of her life for so many years, one might think that Father would have had something for her. But Jim was still a bit flighty and not fully surrendered to his true destiny. It would take time.
Jim opened a package. “Oh, coffee beans from Starbucks! Hey, I love coffee…! A high-powered flashlight! This is better than the flashlight I use for the utility boxes late at night… Winter gloves with the breather hole to open and warm your hands… very nice… A twenty-do
llar gift certificate for Big Boy's Beef and Ribs… Amber, this is too much! I actually feel guilty receiving all this stuff.”
Amber reassured, “It's okay, Jim! There's next year.” Deep down inside she felt a bit hurt for being forgotten for Christmas. And again, at the very least, Jim could have gotten Trista something. Why was this man so dismal and cold?"
Then out of nowhere, Jim suddenly announced that it was time to go. Trista continued to watch everything and was fully aware that he had a wife and kids at home. From what she could determine, Mother was having an affair with a married man who could also, very well, be Trista's own father.
Amber grabbed a small box from the kitchen and piled all of Jim's Christmas presents in it. Then she asked, “Do you want to take some food with you, maybe for your lunch at work tomorrow?”
“No, I'll probably use your gift certificate from Big Boy's. I love that place!”
Trista remained in the family room. Being the case it was not appropriate for Jim and Amber to smooch their good nights to one another. Instead, Amber pulled Jim's coat and hat from the closet. “Well, I guess you better go home.”
“Yeah, thanks for having me tonight.”
“You bet…”
“Merry Christmas…”
“Merry Christmas…”
Jim turned and walked out to the street to his Mapleview Cable bucket truck.
Chapter 27
Jim's penis was beginning to hurt. Since the initial dose of Ms. Lutrova's algae-green sex potion, Jim feared that he was having prolonged erections throughout the night in his sleep. Men typically experience an erection towards the end of a REM cycle, and then it goes away upon fully emerging. But Jim feared that perhaps his erections were had for the entire night. He wondered if this was a normal side effect of the medication and if whether or not he should tell the doctor. Even stranger, Ms. Lutrova's ghostly presence continued to haunt Jim in his dreams. The details fuzzy by morning, Jim was still aware that the woman was doing nothing short of raping him in his own bed throughout the night. Part of him enjoyed and welcomed the invasions, while another part of him feared that the sexual sorceress was damaging his penis.
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