Michelle took the last swallow of her drink. “I don’t know. I’ve never been down that road and had to deal with something like that.”
“If I had suggested you and I take it all off for Scott today, what would you have done?” Beth asked.
Michelle replied after some thoughtful moments. “I don’t know. Part of me says it is no big deal, and the other part says it would be a real problem in the trust department.”
Feeling some frustration, Beth walked to the edge of the deck. “Michelle, you are all over the map and you can’t keep putting Scott in no-win situations or you may end up being the loser. You keep saying you trust him, but it doesn’t sound like you are convinced. You keep trying to get him to do things you don’t want him to do. What do you want?”
Michelle folded her arms on the table before she buried her face in her arms. “I don’t know what I want. Everything between us was so easy before. Now, I have this new relationship with him and I don’t know how to deal with it. I am used to having him go his own way with other girls and now I expect him to walk the line. I’ve always trusted him and now I’m wondering what he would do in some hypothetical tent with a couple of naked women. Our sex has been intense. Now I’m worried about how I will feel next week if it is less intense. Would that mean he is losing interest in me? With the exception of one girl in high school, Scott’s relationships with women don’t last long. Am I setting myself up to fail?”
Beth could see Scott standing on the beach looking toward the house, which inspired her to make one last argument knowing Michelle probably had a little too much to drink. “Michelle, he didn’t go after anyone, take anyone’s clothes off, was never in a tent, and has given you no reason not to trust him. Everything you are worried about are problems of your own making. Go get in the Jacuzzi, which has a sign that says ‘clothing optional’ and I think you will find everything is just fine. If you want to, we can talk about this more tomorrow.”
“Beth, you have me worried now. Scott and I have never talked about the important things that make a committed relationship work. I’m starting to wonder if we are just trying to save a friendship by adding sex to it. I’ve never really considered being married to him. The idea has crossed my mind before, but I never gave it serious consideration.”
Beth turned to Michelle. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really on your mind.”
Michelle considered Beth’s question for a few moments. With enough drinks now in her system, she gave Beth an answer that neither of them would have thought possible. “I told Scott I broke up with Tom because he was a corporate monster which was true. What I didn’t tell Scott was that I could not stand for Tom to touch me. I did everything I could think of to keep from being intimate with him.”
Beth assumed she understood Michelle’s issue. “I don’t blame you if you didn’t feel right being with him. I think we have all been in that situation.”
Michelle was silent for several minutes before she turned to Beth. “I was a real tomboy until I was in ninth grade and everyone wanted me wearing dresses. Before Tom, I didn’t have a real long-term relationship that worked out. Now, I am waking up in the middle of the night thinking I should not be in bed with Scott.”
Beth thought she understood what Michelle was trying to say. After a long pause, she decided to approach the subject head on. “Are you suggesting you might have a preference for being with a girl?”
Michelle was clearly frustrated. “I don’t know what I am suggesting, although I have never found myself attracted to girls. Then again, apparently I’m not finding myself attracted to guys either. I wonder if Scott and I got along so well because I didn’t have to deal with a sexual relationship when I was with him. He never put any real demands on me. I can’t believe I’m telling you all this.”
“Maybe you haven’t been out with a guy that measures up to Scott. Maybe you are curious about being with another girl. Maybe you aren’t ready for a long-term relationship. Maybe you’re afraid that things won’t work out with Scott. There are endless possibilities.” Beth replied.
Michelle took a large swallow of her drink before she unintentionally shared her thoughts. “Maybe I can’t handle a real relationship.”
Beth shook her head. “You have been under a lot of stress lately with Tom and now Scott. You future is up in the air and you are confused right now. You need some time to sort things out and see where you want to be. Don’t let this drive you crazy because you don’t have to decide anything right now.”
Scott approached slowly before he placed his tackle box and cooler on the deck and joined them at the table. Having had some time to think, he tried to explain his actions. “I want to thank both of you for going with me to take Amie to the hospital. I realize it may have been a waste of time and energy, but I had to make the effort. Sometimes the choices we make can have a major impact on other people, sometimes not so much.”
Beth replied, “It may have been a wasted effort, but she is worth the effort and I appreciate you standing up for her at the party”.
Michelle took a different approach. “I very much respect the effort you made. I think Beth and I have seen more female drama than you have, and maybe we didn’t look at her from the same perspective you use. I hope she will be alright, too.”
Beth stood up and walked to the edge of the deck while looking down the beach at her house. “It looks like people are finally leaving. I guess I should be heading back.”
Scott issued a warning she might want to consider. “There were some guys on the beach that had been drinking and driving a four wheeler. You might want to wait for a while until they leave. I don’t think they would be a problem, but you never know.”
Michelle pointed out the obvious solution. “Why don’t you walk with her and then if there is an issue, you can get your face bashed in while she runs safely home.”
Beth smiled, “You don’t need to come with me. I’ll be fine.”
Michelle insisted Scott go along with Beth. “If something happens to you, then I would never let Scott hear the end of it. Do him a favor and let him go with you.”
He kissed Michelle on the cheek before they started down the boardwalk. “She’s always thinking about my best interest.”
Beth smiled as she replied, “I appreciate her suggestion for you to walk with me.”
They stopped at the top of the stairs leading down to the beach. “To be honest, I was going to offer to go with you, but I thought it might work out better for me if it was her idea.”
“So what did you want to say to me?” Beth asked.
“I wanted to tell you two things. You got lucky that Moose was in that tent and not somebody else. You have to start watching out for yourself more closely and don’t depend on someone else to do that for you. The other thing I wanted to tell you is this. When you go to bed tonight, put all this mess behind you and have some very good dreams. You’re going to be okay.”
They were getting close to the steps leading to her house when she stopped and turned to him. “Thank you for telling me the truth about what happened on the canoe trip and for what you did for Amie. I guess under different circumstances, this would be the time when you would put your arms around me before you kissed me goodnight.”
Scott glanced out at the surf. “Under different circumstances, you would be right. However, under different circumstances, I would never have even been at the beach, we would never have met, and you would still be having bad dreams from not knowing what happened to you on the canoe trip. In the big scheme of things, our paths crossed at the right time.”
Beth also looked at the surf as she stood on the steps. “You can feel it?”
He had no idea what she was talking about and wasn’t sure he was ready to find out. “What can I feel?”
She moved down two steps bringing them closer together but they remained a few feet apart with Scott looking up at her. Her voice was soft and very sincere. “You can feel the spiritual connection between us, can�
��t you?”
Scott was ready to call it a day after having more drama in one afternoon and evening than he had had in weeks of his normal life. At the same time, he didn’t want to minimize whatever Beth was describing. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“That’s okay. When you’re in bed tonight remembering everything that happened today, you’ll understand what I am talking about. Anyway, Michelle and I are going shopping in the morning so I’m sure we’ll have a chance to talk tomorrow. I think we both need to get some sleep.”
They looked at each other for over a minute without speaking as though having some type of mental contest to size up an opponent. “And what are you going to be doing tonight after you go to bed.”
Beth moved much closer to Scott never breaking our eye contact. “That’s easy. I am going to become a ghost and then around two o’clock in the morning, I am going to come lay next to you in your bed and haunt you.”
He smiled at his opponent. “That’s a very interesting metaphor.”
She turned and started up the steps. “I’ll ask you tomorrow if it was a metaphor or if it was something quite real. Goodbye my knight in dented armor.”
Scott continued to watch her as she turned to start up the steps. “Under different circumstances, it would have been a very nice goodnight kiss.”
She turned around and looked at him before she continued up the steps. “Under different circumstances, I think you would be right.”
Scott was about to say something to Beth for which he had no reason or understanding. “Who is he, Beth?”
Beth came down several steps and was now looking directly into Scott’s eyes. She waited for almost a minute as they stared at each other. “Who is who, Scott?”
She could almost see his mind working as she continued to watch his eyes while waiting for an answer. “He has something to do with the military and there is something wrong with his wrist or shoulder or elbow. Something is wrong on his right arm. You know who he is.”
She continued to stare at Scott. “Who has a problem with their arm?”
Scott continued after a few moments. “You know him. He has short dark hair. He is not as tall as I am and he is slightly overweight. He is extremely arrogant and you’re afraid of him.”
Beth looked at Scott for only a moment before Scott realized he had been talking about something for which he knew nothing about. She responded to his original question. “He is also very angry and abusive. He hurt his elbow and wrist after he tried to fight a jeep. He was discharged from the army for disorderly conduct and he is the living definition of hell. He’s the reason I don’t trust men anymore.”
Scott continued to look at Beth as he was trying to understand his own actions. “There is no way I could know those things about him. I have no idea who he is and I have never seen him.”
“What is going on here with us?” Scott asked being completely perplexed.
Beth had a slight grin as she replied. “You ask what is going on. For starters, you would really love to kiss me and you would like to taste and feel my tongue in your mouth. There are several other things on your mind too. What is going on is that your mind is having sex with my mind. Your thoughts and my thoughts are all over each other. That’s what’s going on. In case you don’t believe me, close your eyes and you will know what I want from you.”
The accuracy of her comments was unsettling to say the least. “I don’t need to close my eyes, but I get a very strong feeling that even though you want something from me, you are afraid to take it, even if I could give it to you.”
Beth put her hands on his shoulders. “That may be true, but I am far less afraid of you now than I was this morning.”
Scott was still troubled by his experience. “Do you have mental telepathy or something?”
Beth shook her head. “I have nothing that you don’t have. You’re the one who just described my ex boyfriend having never seen him or even knowing who he is.”
Scott was not ready to accept a vague answer. He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Beth. “I want to see what your ex-boyfriend looks like. I want to know if he is the same person I saw in my mind.”
With no reluctance, Beth used the phone browser, pulled up his picture on Google, and then handed Scott the phone. After he looked at the picture for a few moments, he looked back at Beth. “You know this is impossible. He looks exactly like I imagined him.”
Beth was very direct and serious. “You didn’t imagine him Scott. You saw him in my mind and I can’t imagine how because I wasn’t thinking about him at all.”
“Have you always been able to do this sort of thing?” Scott asked.
“I have no control over it and neither do you. It just happens between certain people. I can’t tell you to think of a number and then tell you what that number is. In my case, I just get certain thoughts about other people and that’s all. It only happens with a very few people.” She replied.
Scott tried to think about possible explanations. “When you were so upset this morning on the beach, I hugged you. I felt like I was feeling some of what was going on with you. That’s why I felt so sorry for you. It seems to have gotten stronger all day, but this still doesn’t make any sense.”
“Do you understand the spiritual connection I was talking about now?”
Scott looked away as he considered her question. “I know something just happened, but I am a long ways from understanding it.”
Beth was a little more at peace with the experience. “Tomorrow you will see this in a new light.”
Scott started to turn to leave when Beth issued a caution. “I would strongly suggest you never discuss what just happened between us with anybody. From experience, I can tell you nobody will believe you and you will end up looking like an idiot.”
“So this has happened to you before?” Scott asked.
“It’s not common, but it has happened before. Just like you, I have no explanation for it nor do I fight it. I’ll see you later on tonight when you least expect to see me.”
When he got back to the house, Michelle was sitting on the sofa with her feet propped up on the coffee table as she was flipping through a magazine. Scott sat beside her for a moment before they shared a brief kiss. “Did you get our little girl home safely?”
Scott leaned back on the sofa as he put his arm around Michelle and pulled her closer. “Yes, she is safe at home. I understand you are taking her shopping tomorrow.”
“We are going to spend some quality girl time together. We’re leaving around nine-thirty and then have an early lunch. I should be back in plenty of time for us to go out on the beach.
Scott was still thinking about his experience with Beth long after Michelle had gone to sleep.
CHAPTER XIII
Scott was able to sleep late on Saturday morning, as Michelle had been very quiet when she dressed. She and Beth left the house around nine thirty for their morning shopping trip to Morehead City.
He got out of bed at ten-fifteen and made his way to the kitchen to fix a pot of coffee. Seeing little of interest in the morning paper, he took his coffee and a boating magazine to the deck. A few people were starting to gather on the beach and if the current temperature was any indication, this was going to be another hot day.
Scott sat on the edge of the hot tub with his knees and feet soaking in the cool water as he read the magazine. It wasn’t long before he heard the sound of footsteps walking on the boardwalk that lead to the beach. When he looked up, Scott saw Amie coming towards him at a rather slow pace. As she came closer, she stood a few feet away looking down at him. “Good morning.”
“Good morning. Is Beth here?”
Scott glanced at his watch. “She’s gone shopping but I expect them back around one o’clock.”
She spoke in a cold and detached voice. “Are you Scott?”
“Yes I am. Would you like a cup of coffee?” Scott replied.
Without accepting or rejecting his offer she conti
nued, “You’re the one who put the bandage on my arm last night. My arm wasn’t any of your business, was it?”
Not caring for her tone of voice or her message, his reply was simple. “No”
“You took the knife away from me and that was none of your business either, was it?”
“No”
Her stare was now almost as cold as her voice. “You took me to the emergency room and that wasn’t your job, was it?”
Scott quickly made the decision that he was not going to justify his actions or try to explain anything to Amie, thus avoiding an argument. “No”
She continued her assault. “I also understand that you yelled at some of my friends for not trying to help me. Is that true?”
Scott assumed she was running out of things to complain about his doing for her and gave her one last simple answer. “That’s true.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “You don’t talk much, do you?”
Scott put his magazine down, but continued to watch her. “No.”
Before she turned away, she shook her head. “You’re not the person I was expecting to find when I came over here.”
His reply was quick. “If all you wanted to accomplish was to tell me that everything I did was none of my business, I could have saved you a trip. I already knew that.”
She started speaking as she turned to walk away. “I came to thank you for your help and tell you I am really happy that you decided not to mind your own business, but maybe that was a mistake.”
Scott called out to her before she could get very far. “I answered your questions, so why didn’t you answer my question.”
She stopped and thought for a moment before she turned around. “You didn’t ask me anything.”
“I asked if you wanted a cup of coffee.”
A glare appeared on Amie’s face as she replied. “I don’t want any of you damn coffee.”
Her glare was then replaced with a genuine smile. “However, I will take a diet drink, if you have one.”
Brother Willy's Traveling Salvation Show Page 14
