Selective/Memory: The Depth of Emotion Book 2 (The Depth of Emotion)

by Lorenzo, DD

  Dr. Sumner held her hand as Aria became distraught.

  “What is it sweetie?” Dr. Sumner asked, sensing there was more.

  Aria tucked her head into her shoulder as she cried out, “You don’t understand!”

  Dr. Sumner was perplexed.

  “What, Aria? What don’t I understand? What has you so upset?”

  “Her!” She said, glaring at the doctor. “It was her, don’t you see?” she pleaded.

  Not receiving the response she wanted, Aria grabbed for both of the doctor’s hands in desperation.

  “She did it!”

  “Marchelle! Dónde estan mis trajes de baño?! Where did you put them? Where are my bathing suits?!”

  She proceeded to tear apart the closet. No matter, she’d have Marchelle put everything away once she had her pack the suitcases for the trip.

  Marchelle came running from the other room and retrieved one of the suitcases she had placed against the wall.

  “Todo está en la bolsa,” she said, holding out the suitcase to her sister.

  “I didn’t tell you to pack everything in here yet, and use your English! I may have you pretend to be me at some point so that I can arrange to be elsewhere!”

  “Si, Marisol…umm, okay.”

  As Marisol rummaged through everything in the suitcase, which Marchelle had so neatly and painstakingly organized and packed for her, Marchelle knelt down to assist her.

  “May I help you?” she asked, asking in perfect English and offering up her hands.

  “No! You can’t help me!”

  Marisol slapped her hands out of the way.

  “You could have helped if you would have checked to see if these were the final selections of what I chose to take on the trip with me—”

  Her rant was interrupted by the ringing of the cell phone, which she couldn’t find because she had tossed everything around.

  Frustrated, she yelled an order at her sister, “Find that for me!”

  Marchelle immediately scampered and started looking around the bedroom for the missing phone.

  “I SAID NOW!” Marisol screamed at her, despite her sister’s instant response, and the poor woman ran into the hallway.

  Victoriously retrieving the cell from her sister’s handbag, Marchelle held it out to Marisol cheerfully.

  Hearing Marisol’s tone quickly change as she answered, Marchelle exited the room to make herself busy elsewhere. Within minutes, she could hear her sister raise her voice in anger, cussing at someone called Blake. Then the unmistakable sound of the telephone being thrown against the wall was heard. Marchelle wouldn’t inquire, however.

  She knew better.

  Since she had been Marisol’s companion, Marchelle learned that she was only to be privy to what Marisol deemed important.

  “That was Blake’s assistant at Bella Matrix,” Marisol informed her as she exited her bedroom. “It seems that I—that we—are not going to Hawaii. I have not been requested for this assignment. That is very odd to me, since I know the client extremely well, and have very good relations with several of his employees.”

  Marchelle said nothing, but noted that Marisol was extremely unhappy about this turn of events—extremely unhappy.

  She came to sit near Marchelle, speaking without expecting—or wanting—a reply.

  “So they’ve thought of everything, have they? They’ve selected other models, chosen the hotels—they are even taking some of the new people! I am not happy about this! Not happy at all, Marchelle!”

  She gave her sister a sinister scowl.

  “I was planning to spend some time with Declan. In fact, I had an entire plan for the trip that would have made him come around to everything I wanted him to do! All that time! All my plans! Now it is all ruined!”

  She ran her hands through her long hair as she tapped her finger on her temple in contemplation. She stood and began to pace, tapping and pacing in sync. Then, as if a thought occurred to her, she quickly perked up. It seemed a plan had begun to unfold.

  Once again, she spoke to her sister, expecting a mute audience.

  “They cannot ruin my plans! I may not be on the assignment, but they cannot keep me out of Hawaii!”

  Smiling, she hugged herself with self-satisfaction.

  “I will surprise him! Yes! He will love that! It will be perfect!! I will let them all go there to work, and I will go to play! It’s the best scenario—and I get exactly what I want! Doesn’t that sound wonderful?!”

  She spun herself around, laughing.

  “I thought that we would have a nice vacation. I was going to let you play at being me once again.”

  Turning her attention to Marchelle, she gave her a slight smile.

  “You like that, don’t you? When I let you ‘be’ me?”

  Marchelle knew better than to answer the question. No matter what reaction she would display, positive or negative, it would always be the wrong one. She had played this game before. Her eyes dropped to her hands, and Marisol noticed.

  “Stop it, Marchelle! I wasn’t asking you as if I were Papi!”

  Seeing the fear surface in the eyes of her sister, she approached to regain her attention.

  Coming to her side, she gathered both of her sister’s hands into her own. Opening them, Marisol opened hers as well to reveal the matching scars they both carried on their fingertips from their father’s extreme discipline.

  “See?” she cooed. “We have matching fingers. It never affected how pretty I became…” she looked into Marchelle’s downcast eyes “…and it didn’t affect you either.”

  Marchelle looked at the marks. Heavy memories beating in time with her heart, she lifted her sister’s hands to her lips, kissing the palms of each one, and then held them to her cheeks in an expression of love and gratitude.

  Marisol accepted her love and loyalty in the manner of a queen—she deserved it—and softened her voice. She’d tired of this line of unpleasant thoughts regarding their dead father and wished to end the display.

  “Traigame un poco de té. Go on. Get me some tea.”

  Marchelle went to perform the simple task. Nothing that Marisol would ever ask of her would be too trivial or inconvenient. These things that she did for her twin always seemed so insignificant in comparison to the wonderful life she provided for her.

  Papi had a very bad temper when they were growing up, much worse than Marisol. They used to play that they were going to grow up and be like him—boss everyone around the same way that he did.

  One day, they took his pencil and pretended to be him, writing scribbles on the paper. After that, Papi had put their hands to the hot stove in punishment for them thinking they could be like him and for touching his things without permission. It was the last time he ever delivered his harsh form of discipline to them—and Marisol was responsible for making all the terrors from Papi come to an end…

  …Marisol made Papi go away…

  “Hey!”

  Making their way toward him in the restaurant, Carter relaxed at the table. He had only thought Aimee was coming to meet with him, but Katherine and Paige passed through the doorway with her. Relief was lending itself to his comfort. As their time to meet grew closer, he had been a bit edgy about meeting with Aimee alone, but that all just faded away with the girls’ arrival.

  He rose, like the gentleman he was taught to be, as the women approached. Each graced him with a kiss on the cheek, along with their respective hellos, and that made him smile all the more.

  Lying her bag down on the floor, Aimee issued an apology.

  “I hope you don’t mind more company. Katherine was available and Paige said she’d love to help with the Benefit. Is that okay?”

  He stretched out his long, jean covered legs, and all three women took notice. Carter was hot; he was even hotter sporting a day’s worth of rough stubble along the lower part of his face.

  “Of course it’s okay,” he assured her. He then gave all the girls a smile. “I’m the only guy in thi
s restaurant with three gorgeous girls at his table. Every guy here is going to want to be me!”

  As the three got settled at the table, and put jackets on the backs of their chairs, he could tell he got favorable responses from all of them with that remark. Maybe he still could do the dating thing. Lacey always said he was a flirt.

  Paige ran her hands through her long hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. She was blushing a soft shade of pink. She looked down, a bit shy, but then got down to the business at hand.

  “Carter, I asked Aimee if I could help. I loved the idea you had for this function and I think I can get some corporate sponsorship.”

  She paused for a moment, realized that she was making this sound all business, and wanted to acknowledge that she realized it was much more than that to him.

  “I just want to say before I go any further that I’m sorry for your loss. I think I crossed paths with your wife by spending an afternoon with her and Aria. I didn’t get to know her well, but Aria really loved her. I just want to do what I can with this, especially if it’s important to you.”

  Carter was touched by her sincerity.

  “Yeah, it’s important to me,” he said, “so, thank you. What’s even more important is that I think something like this would be important to her.”

  Now gaining the attention of all three ladies, he pushed forward.

  “I’ve talked to Declan about it and he said we can use The Studio to hold the benefit.” He smiled.

  Their smiles and exchanged looks said they were as happy as he was with the location for the function.

  “He said he wants to do whatever he can to make it successful, too. Lacey was special; Declan knew that. It’s just sad that the three of you only know most of what you do about her because of the way she died. What I’d like to do is change that. I want to have people remember Lacey for the way she lived.”

  “I’m sure she was a really good person, Carter,” Katherine said.

  He nodded in agreement. “Lacey was genuine, that’s for sure. What you saw was what you got. She wasn’t a woman that played games. In fact, I think that’s one of the things that caught Declan about Aria. She and Lacey were similar that way.”

  Paige nodded. She knew that to be true of Aria.

  Carter continued his description of the woman they all would be pulling this together for.

  “Lacey wore her heart on her sleeve, and I could always tell what she was thinking. She was tenderhearted. When we were young, if somebody treated her wrong, she’d wonder what she might have done to give them the impression that they could do what they did. That’s just how she was. She always gave people the benefit of the doubt. That’s what she said. Lots of people took advantage of that, but she never changed the way she was. She said she had to live with herself at the end of the day. They had someone else to answer to—”

  “Sounds like she and Aria had a lot in common!” Paige interjected.

  “They did,” Carter agreed. “I honestly think that if Lacey were alive, she’d figure out a way to excuse the person who left her on that road. That’s just who she was—but I’m not quite so merciful like that.”

  Aimee reached out to touch his hand, seeing his anger seethe through.

  “You don’t have to be,” she consoled. “She loved you for who you are.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” he said, reassuring her, “but this is something I can do to be a little more like her—to show that she did have an impact on my life. I’d like to believe I learned a lesson about reaching out to people through watching how she was and to show that there is something else to remember her by than just being the poor school teacher that got plowed down on a mountain road.”

  The women looked very uncomfortable with that inaccurate description of Lacey, given the little they knew of her. Carter realized he had made his point.

  Reaching into the shoulder bag that was resting on the seat beside her, Katherine pulled out a neatly organized file.

  “Declan called me to tell me that I could help you,” she said, placing the file before them. “He said I could do it on or off his time.” She smiled mischievously.

  Surprised, Carter exchanged glances with the others.

  “We have the date,” Katherine continued. “In this file, I have the lists and particulars of the caterer, linens, a bartender, and music.”

  “I’m impressed!” Carter said. “I don’t know any of this stuff.”

  Aimee winked at her. “That’s my girl!”

  Katherine, always organized, handed a large envelope to him. “This is for you. You can look it over. If everything meets with your approval, I’ll finalize it by the end of the week.”

  “I’m sure that I’ll agree with all of it,” he said.

  Shifting uncomfortably, he took a look inside. He hesitated before continuing.

  “The last time we talked, this was all just talk. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate it, but I’m not sure I can do all of this.”

  The three were puzzled, but Katherine took the lead.

  “What do you mean? You don’t think that emotionally you can do it? If you think I was giving this to you to do by yourself—you were wrong.”

  Katherine took the envelope back from his hands.

  “This is your idea, for sure, but all of us, Declan included, will be there to help you.”

  Carter wasn’t certain how to express what he meant. He wasn’t Declan, and he sure wasn’t as well traveled as he was. He was a State Trooper who left his job to help his brother out. Now he was working Security for a company on the Eastern Shore to keep an eye on his brother, and make a little extra money until he could figure out what he was going to do in the future. It really wasn’t much of a challenge as there weren’t too many threatening situations in a modeling studio in this quiet town. Declan said he could be his bodyguard, but he believed being on his brother’s payroll was purely out of pity, obligation or both.

  The bottom line was that these women were expecting the benefit to be of the magnitude that his brother would plan, and he was unsure that his bank account could accommodate something of that magnitude.

  “It isn’t about my feelings, ladies, because I could make myself uncomfortable for Lacey,” he said, a little embarrassed. “It’s more about the price. I mean, I know that you’re all used to doing something really fancy, but I’m not my brother.”

  He smiled apologetically at all of them.

  “We might have to scale it back a bit.”

  His discomfort made him vulnerable and that only made them want to help him even more so.

  “Carter, don’t worry about that.” Katherine smiled. “It’s taken care of.”

  He sternly protested, “What does that mean? I have to pay for it. It’s about my wife.”

  Katherine shook her head. “No. You don’t understand how all of this works, but I do. Declan has some sponsors—corporate sponsors—that want to underwrite the function, and Paige does too. Whatever amount is left for you to pay, I promise, you’ll be able to take care of it. Will you just trust me, please? This is what I do best. Let me do this for you.”

  She pleaded her case. His only obstacle was the one he’d create.

  Carter was a little flustered, but more encouraged by the explanation. He struggled to find the right words, but none would suffice. Although living here for such a short time, the friends he had gained were proving to be good ones. It moved him that they would extend themselves to make something that was so important to him, important to them.

  He wiped his big hands down the thighs of his worn jeans, feeling himself fight for composure. It was the first time since he had come to stay here that his emotions were so close to surfacing. He had preoccupied himself with concentrating on Declan, and he didn’t want to lose it in front of them.

  “Thank you—all of you,” he said, clearing his throat, which had become a bit rusty with the public discomfort. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he announced, excusing himself from the table.r />
  Once they saw that he was through the bathroom door, the women quickly had their say.

  “Did you see that?” Katherine asked them. “I thought he might cry when I told him everything was taken care of. I thought Declan told him, but he acted like he didn’t know anything!”

  Paige pressed her hands together tensely.

  “He really didn’t,” she said. “He’s such a nice guy—a big softie.”

  She tucked her hands up under her chin.

  “Lacey was a lucky girl…and he’s hot!”

  Her comment caused an unexpected glare from Aimee.

  “Paige! Knock it off! We’re talking about doing something in memory of his dead wife! He might not know all the ins and outs of putting together a benefit, but he’s a smart guy!”

  Eyes wide and hands up in surrender, Paige backed up against Aimee’s threatening tone.

  “Hey…calm down,” she said. “I never said anything about him not being smart, Aimee, I just said I thought he was hot. What’s your problem?”

  Aimee pulled back and took a deep breath. Her reaction shocked her, too, and she wasn’t sure why she jumped at Paige. She had to rid herself of the defensive aura that had just taken hold of her before Carter came back to the table. She quickly set about to remedy the situation, but had just a minute to apologize to Paige when she saw him returning.

  “Sorry, Paige. I guess I’m just a little jumpy tonight.”

  Taking his seat, Carter continued the subject.

  “I just want to say thank you all, for everything.” He smiled awkwardly. “Whatever you all come up with, just let me know. I did want to plan it, but honestly, I know that you’ll all make it a nice event. Just don’t make it a New York extravaganza so that I’ll be in debt for the rest of my life, because no matter what Declan says, I want to pick up the tab for whatever isn’t covered, okay?”

  The girls laughed a bit to make him more comfortable and set him at ease.

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  “Speaking of your brother…,” Aimee approached the subject, “…have you noticed a change in him lately?”