“Are you going to finish that?” he asked.
“No, go ahead. I can’t eat another bite. I’m stuffed.”
Dana scooped up the eggroll and promptly dipped it into his sweet-and-sour sauce before taking a bite. As he chewed, he continued to stare at Meghan from across the table. He swallowed and washed it down with a long pull from his Heineken.
“So, tell me about your conference. How’d it go?” he asked.
Meghan pushed her half-eaten lunch away and leaned back in her chair. “You know, as good as a conference over a weekend can go, I guess. It was really kind of a nonevent to tell the truth.”
Dana bobbed his head as he listened, maintaining eye contact with her.
“And the flight? Did you get an aisle seat or did you get stuck with the window?”
“Aisle,” replied Meghan promptly.
A few moments later, Dana continued his barrage of questioning. “I forget, didn’t you tell me that you stayed at the same hotel that we did last spring, before we were married?”
Meghan leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table in front of her. “No. I stayed at the Gerard this time.”
“But wasn’t the conference at that other hotel? The Radisson, was it? Wouldn’t it have been easier just to stay there instead of spending half your time driving back and forth?”
“You’d think, but the Gerard’s rates were almost half of what they were at the Radisson,” Meghan said as her eyes flickered around the room.
“Huh. You don’t say. You’d think that—”
“What’s with the third degree?” Meghan asked. “You’ve never been this interested in my weekend conferences before.”
“I don’t know, Meg, you tell me. It’s just that things don’t quite add up lately.”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to start that again,” Meghan snapped.
“Well, can you blame me? You leave here every other weekend for some new conference or seminar, and when you return you clam up about everything that happened while you were there. I just don’t know what to believe.”
“For heaven’s sake. For the hundredth time, I’m not having an affair. I am fully committed to you and this marriage.”
“I really want that to be true, Meg, but didn’t it take you four long months to even put in it for a name change at the DMV? It was like you were waiting as long as possible before you were willing to accept Sharp as your surname.”
“That’s not true. You know the hoops I had to jump through to get all that paperwork just right. I can’t help it if they lost the same form several times.”
“Tell me, Meg: Do you think we’ll even make it to our one-year anniversary?”
“Where the hell is that coming from? Have I ever given you any sign of leaving you? Dana, you’re not even thinking straight,” Meghan said.
Dana leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table, mirroring Meghan’s posture. “But you have, Meg. You leave me every couple weeks. That’s how it feels to me, at least.”
“That’s not fair. You know how much I love you. You are my rock. If you’d rather me not work, I’d be all for that. But until the pet store can support our household expenses, I don’t see any other choice but to continue on like we are now. And for me to work, I can’t control when the company sends me out of town.”
A moment later, she stood and circled around to Dana’s side of the table. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the side of his cheek. “I love you, baby. You can trust me.”
Dana sat motionless for a few moments. Finally he reached up and caressed her arm and leaned into her cheek.
“All right, my pet. I’m sorry. I just get so jealous when I’m alone for too long. Between that and being at the pet store nearly full time, my mind really does wander.”
“What? You’re gonna believe this tramp?” I said from my seat on the countertop. “Don’t trust a thing she says. She’s just a cheating whore.”
“Speaking of, how is the hunt going for your first employee? Have you found anyone worthy to hire?” Meghan asked as she returned to her seat.
“As a matter of fact, I did. It’s been a hellish several weeks, interviewing practically nonstop. Finally, I hired a girl and she started on Friday. We went through the basics of the store Friday and Saturday, and she seems pretty quick at picking things up.”
“That’s fantastic, honey. Who is she?”
“Her name’s Maxine. Yeah, I think she’ll do okay. But still, it’s just so difficult letting go of certain aspects of the business. You just don’t know who you can and cannot trust in this world.”
“Hey, buddy. I think you need a lesson or two in life lessons on how to read people,” I said, not believing what I was hearing from this guy.
Dana leaned forward, staring into Meghan’s eyes. “So, are we okay? Do you forgive my jealous tendencies?”
Meghan reached out, stroked his face, and smiled. “Sure thing, sweetheart. And I do apologize for being away so often. It really does take it out of me too, you know?”
“That I do,” Dana said.
“Well, then if you don’t mind, I think I might go up and take a quick catnap,” Meghan said as she began to rise from the table.
“Sure thing, Meg. Why don’t you do that and I’ll take care of this lunch mess.”
A moment later, Meg disappeared around the corner. The creaking sound of her climbing the stairway could be heard throughout the apartment.
Chapter 5
As soon as the sound of Meghan’s exit faded, Dana sprang from his chair, rushed into the foyer, and grabbed Meghan’s purse. Moments later, he returned to the kitchen and instantly began rummaging through the various zippered compartments. He finally found what he was looking for and withdrew Meghan’s cell phone. Unlocking the screen, he went directly to her messaging app and started it up.
“Sorry, bro, but you’re wasting your time,” I said. “She already deleted everything.”
A moment later, Dana discovered that very thing and sighed deeply.
Dana replaced Meghan’s cell phone exactly where he’d found it, minding to return everything to its original condition prior to his search, then took the purse back into the entryway. When he returned to the kitchen to clean up, I decided to jump upstairs and find out if Meghan and Luke’s well-earned demise was imminent. A moment later, I vanished.
I landed in the master bedroom and found Meghan already in bed. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing was still shallow; she wasn’t asleep yet. I knelt down next to her and slipped the rosary over my head. Lightly grasping the crucifix, I touched the back of her hand gently and thought of a point twenty-four hours ahead.
Within seconds, I was standing back downstairs in the kitchen, and Meghan sat at the kitchen table, her eyes brimming with tears.
“I don’t know, Meg. You say one thing but somehow mean something completely different,” Dana said, leaning against the kitchen countertop, his arms crossed in front of him.
“I’ve already told you. I was at the conference. Why don’t you believe me?” Meghan cried.
“You see, that’s the thing. I wanted to believe you, but there was just something . . . something that wasn’t settling with me. When I got to work this morning, my curiosity got the better of me. I called the Radisson, and guess what they told me?”
Meghan’s eyes locked on to Dana’s and her tears slowed. “You what? You checked up on me?”
“I did. And it was a good thing, too, because they told me there was no conference there this weekend. Tell me, my faithful wife, if you were not at the conference this weekend, where the hell were you?”
Tears returned to Meghan’s eyes in full force. “I swear, Dana. I was there. I don’t know who you talked to, but there was a conference and I was there. It was mandatory for all of the employees to go.”
“Okay. Let’s say I believe you. What do you have from the conference that you can show me?” Dana asked. “Hotel bill? Airline ticket stub?”
&n
bsp; “Are you kidding me? Yesterday you tell me you’re okay with everything, and now you’re calling to check up on me? To track me down, to find out every movement I make?” Meghan stood up abruptly and stormed out of the kitchen. A moment later, Dana and I followed.
Dana caught up to Meghan in the foyer. “You know, this whole thing could all go away if you just show me something, anything that you took away from your ‘conference,’” Dana said, throwing up air quotes in a dramatic fashion.
“Well, to hell with you. I’m not about to start justifying my every move for you. Not now, not ever,” Meghan said as she slung her purse over her arm.
“So, what? You’re just going to run away? Is that it? You’re going to run away from this adult conversation we’re having?” Dana asked.
“No, I’m walking away. From you. I need a break, and so do you. I’ll be back later. And hopefully by then you’ll have had some time to realize just how much of an asshole you’re being about this entire situation.” Then she walked out the door.
I released the rosary and was brought back to the present.
When my vision cleared, I was sitting on the floor and Meghan was fast asleep on the bed next to me.
“I don’t know how you can do this,” I said. “How can you sleep so peacefully with all of that deceit flowing through your veins?”
I stood and hovered over Meghan for several minutes as I contemplated my next move. My emotions were running high, and I needed an escape. Not an escape like Meghan, but I certainly needed a mental break from the adulterous situation. From what I’d learned in the flash-forward, I knew I had at least twenty-four hours before anything would happen. I formulated a destination in my mind, and a moment later I vanished from Meghan’s bedside.
Chapter 6
When I reappeared, I stood in a cavernous warehouse filled with aisles of metal shelving stacked to the ceiling. As I made my way through the maze of storage shelves, I hoped that my stash of goods hadn’t been relocated. A third of the way down the aisle, I arrived at a grouping of shelves that were host to several boxes with the name Duffy plastered on their sides. After shuffling around the first few empty boxes, I came to one that was full and quite heavy. I tipped the lid off and quickly filled each arm with volumes of my own books. I scooped up as many as I could carry, emptying the entire box. With my elbow, I nudged the lid back over the box and then promptly disappeared.
Landing in the middle of my new domicile, I moved to the side of the fireplace and began placing my prized book collection on the rustic bookshelves that I’d fabricated from reclaimed barn wood taken from the shed a week earlier.
One by one, I placed the books on the shelf, reciting each of the titles as I did so. About halfway through the second armful, a plain white envelope slipped out of one of the books. I sat the remaining books down before picking up the fallen envelope. I turned it over in my hand, but there were no visible words on either side. I didn’t recall placing it in any of my books before, so I was at a loss as to where it might have come from.
Turning it back over, I flipped open the rear flap and looked inside. What I saw caused my heart to skip a beat.
“My God, I haven’t seen this in ages,” I breathed.
I backed up and lowered myself into my lumpy couch before sliding the envelope’s contents out. I held a copy of Cyndi’s and my marriage license, accompanied by several aged photos from our wedding day. From what I could remember, we had received the photos a few months after our wedding from one of our friends. Because they were so candid and unplanned, both Cyndi and I cherished them greatly.
As I flipped through the stack of photos, memories of our wedding came rushing back. I could remember nearly every moment of that day vividly, because it was the most cherished moment of my existence. I remembered having lunch with Cyndi that day at the restaurant where we had had our first date. We’d had the same meals on both occasions—a lasagna roll for me and fettuccine Alfredo for Cyndi. And just like our first date, Cyndi had barely touched her meal.
Fast forward a few hours, and I remembered standing on a raised brick platform surrounded by half a dozen bridesmaids and groomsmen. And then it had happened. I saw my beautiful bride-to-be being led down the aisle by her father, and my emotions would not stay in check. My eyes had filled with tears, but I had smiled from ear to ear. When I saw the pure joy in Cyndi’s face as she approached, I had cried openly.
I shuffled through a few more photographs, occasionally wiping my eyes. When I reached the end of the stack, I slipped them back into the envelope and returned them to the bookshelf.
I rambled aimlessly about the cabin for hours, contemplating the similarities between Cyndi and me, and Meghan and Dana. I tried to figure out exactly what caused infidelity. Was it boredom? Was it weakness? Something else? I had no answers, but I did know one thing: I knew, as sure as I knew anything in this world, Cyndi had in fact been my soulmate. If that woman could continue to haunt my soul several months after her own death, I knew there was a connection. I just wondered if there was a similar connection between Dana and Meghan.
Having lost track of time, I decided it was time to get back to my responsibilities. I wondered if Meghan had returned home to work things out with Dana or if she had run off to be with Luke.
A moment later, I disappeared from the cabin to get caught up on my marks’ locations.
Chapter 7
When I arrived at Luke’s apartment, it was late morning and Luke was just sitting down for lunch. As I sat across from him, I wondered whether he was aware that Meghan was married, or if she was being equally deceitful with him. Hoping to glean something relevant from Luke’s future, I quickly donned the rosary. I thought ahead twenty-four hours, and a moment later the room around me faded to black.
When my vision returned, I stood at Luke’s bedside. I looked down at him and Meghan, their naked bodies intertwined, then glanced at the alarm clock next to the bed. It was almost noon. Having discovered that they were both still alive, I was about to release the rosary to avoid witnessing any more of their adulterous ways when Meghan spoke.
“Are you sure?” she said.
“Absolutely. It’s like I said last night, I’ve never felt for anyone else the way I feel about you right now. I love you, Meg, and I hope you feel the same.”
Meghan didn’t reply right away. She lay next to Luke, her head on his chest, and from where I stood, I could see tears beginning to fall across her cheek.
“I’m not sure what to think. When I’m with you, all I can think about is being with you. When I’m away from you, all I can think about is wanting to get back to you.”
“Meg, you’ve just described my world for the past month.”
“But is that really love? I remember those same feelings when Dana and I first met. Sure, they weren’t as deep as they are with you, but I still had them. They were real feelings for him, early on. But somehow, what you and I have is—”
“Different? I don’t know, Meg, but I think you might be my . . . my soulmate. I’ve never had such feelings for anyone else in my entire life.”
Meghan dried her eyes before she looked up at Luke. “How can you tell?”
“I don’t know, it just . . . feels right. It’s like I ache when you’re not around, and when you are here, I ache at the thought of you having to leave.”
“I don’t want you to ache,” Meghan said as she leaned in and kissed Luke’s chin, inching up to his lips.
Suddenly, a loud commotion echoed in from somewhere else in Luke’s apartment. Before either Meghan or Luke could move, a tall man burst through the bedroom door.
Meghan looked up and screamed in horror at the sight of her husband. He was holding his vintage Colt revolver, pointing it in their direction.
Luke moved toward the edge of the bed, but Dana pulled back the hammer of his pistol. “Don’t you move an inch,” he said sternly.
Luke froze, then slowly leaned back against the headboard.
“Dana, I
can explain,” Meghan said. “I was going to tell you today.”
Dana’s eyes blazed red with anger as he pointed his pistol at Luke.
“Wait! It’s not his fault,” Meghan pleaded. “I was the—”
Bang, roared the gun.
“DANA! What’ve you done,” Meghan screamed as Luke’s body went limp.
“I’m ending this,” Dana said calmly.
“By k-k-killing him?” Meghan asked as she began to sob.
“Meghan, baby, you were supposed to be mine, and mine only.”
“But is that a reason t-to k-kill someone?” Meghan pleaded.
“Shut up! Just stop it. You are tainted now, and you mean nothing to me,” Dana said as he pulled the hammer back on his pistol and fired it at Meghan.
As if in slow motion, the bullet crawled through the air, spinning slightly, before penetrating Meghan’s bare chest, blood splattering across the sheets.
A split second later, Dana cocked his pistol again and pointed it at the side of his own head. I saw him squeeze the trigger, but then everything froze. There was no more gunfire, no more blood, no more death. Everything around me paused eternally. I released my grip on the rosary and was brought back to the present.
I still sat at the kitchen table, but Luke had moved into the living room and was napping on the couch. I looked at my watch and saw that it was just about two in the afternoon. Remembering my last trip ahead with the rosary, I figured that Meghan and Dana were just about to have their fight.
“You better wake up, buddy. Your girlfriend is going to be on her way shortly and she is going to be needing you, of that I am certain.”
Luke continued to slumber, not hearing my words.
Feeling overwhelmed with emotion, I needed time to think. I had about twenty-four hours to kill before it was time, and sticking around there served no purpose. A moment later I vanished.
The Borrowed Souls: A Novel Page 23
