Love on the Edge of Time

by Julie A. Richman

  Finally, she spoke, giving into him, “Is there something you want to say to me?”

  “Obviously, there’s a lot I want to say to you. Let me start with the text you sent me on my wedding night. What were you thinking? It was incredibly inappropriate as were the subsequent ones you’ve sent.”

  “You are my patient and I’m looking out for your well-being and when I see red flags, it is my responsibility to alert you to them.”

  “Just like you did with David and Rachel’s regressions?”

  “I have to be very discreet with my patients’ private information.”

  Waving her off with a hand, “Dr. S., I think it’s time you refer me on to someone else to continue treatment. This is not healthy. And the relationship between you and my wife has taken a very hostile turn and I really don’t want to get any more of your texts maligning her. She is my wife.”

  As if there was a string pulling her from the top of her head, Claire’s spine straightened to its full-sitting length, “Jesse, I can absolutely recommend someone else for you to talk to, although I think you are acting hastily and there is still important work you and I could be doing. We’ve had a lot of success in our association, have we not?”

  “Yes, I’m clean and sober and I could not have done that without you. I will forever be grateful.”

  “I don’t want your gratitude. I want you to maintain your health, I want you to continue healing through self-discovery and sobriety. I think the most stable way to achieve that is for us to continue our work together.”

  “I think that would be something that would upset my wife greatly.”

  “If she truly loves you, she’ll want what is best for you and that is not to have a disturbance in the treatment that has been so successful for you.” Although Claire was selling hard, she was attempting to give off the opposite appearance.

  Shaking his head, Jesse realized that today, he was hearing the words the doctor was saying to him very differently than he might have heard the exact same statements in the past. He was now hearing them as a married man, with a responsibility to love and protect his woman. The single, narcissistic, lone beast was gone. In his place was the alpha of a newly formed pack. His mind quickly flashed to Rachel’s wolf, whose innate instinct was to protect those he loved. He had become the wolf.

  “Are you questioning Kylie’s love for me and her commitment to my health?”

  Crossing her legs the other way, Claire was quiet for a moment before she spoke, “I do not think she would consciously want to sabotage you. I’m just afraid her feelings toward me might cloud her ability to separate what is best for you.”

  “We always look to alleviate our stressors, right?” He paused, his eye contact direct with the doctor. “Right now, the stressor is you, Dr. S. Moving on would remove the stressor on several levels.”

  She sat there silently for a beat. “I hope you know the only thing I want here is what is best for you. It is my only motivation, Jesse. I am your doctor. It is my job to help you help yourself get and stay healthy. And to see you have any kind of relapse,” she shook her head and waved her hand in front of her face, “would be a horrible situation to watch and know that I couldn’t help you.” Then, without missing a beat, she posed, “Here’s something to think about. I know Kylie and I have had a major falling out, but she and I have also done some important work together that has helped her get her life back on a solid path. Would the two of you consider, at least as part of your treatment, being treated jointly? I really don’t know what that would look like, we can discuss that and build a protocol that would work for you both and it might give us more answers to your past history together.”

  As she threw out the last piece, she was certain it would be the irresistible lynch pin to reel Kylie back in and to hold onto Jesse as a client. Her sole motivation.

  “I’ll talk to her. That’s the only thing I will commit to. I’ll talk to her.”

  ••••••

  “So, this is the list. Hayley and I have culled it down to seven.” From a folder already two inches thick, Fiona pulled a single sheet of paper and placed it on the table in front of her daughter.

  With the briefest of glances, Kylie responded, “I can make it five for you immediately. You can pull off there right now both The Plaza and The Pierre.”

  “I think you should go see them,” Fiona’s protest was cut short.

  “Don’t waste your breath, Mom. Neither of those places say Jesse and Kylie. We need a place where if in the middle of the wedding, Jesse and his buddies decide they need to do a set, it’s totally cool. The Plaza and The Pierre are too white bread formal.”

  Reading a text on her phone, Sip was smiling, “Liz said if you’re interested, her parents can sponsor you to use the Wee Burn Country Club in Darien. They are members.”

  Kylie laughed out loud, “Tell her it was very nice of her to offer, but we’re going to have to pass. Or they may end up getting their membership revoked.

  “Wee Burn is very elite,” Fiona informed them, picking at her farro and grilled chicken salad.

  “It ain’t rock ’n’ roll, Ma.” Kylie laughed. “You and Liz’s mom have the same taste.”

  “Taste alike,” Hayley muttered under her breath, snickering at the thought.

  Changing the subject, Kylie asked, “So, what is going on between you and Zac’s cute little friend?”

  “She is cute, isn’t she?” Hayley wanted corroboration.

  “Very,” Kylie agreed, “And I like her a lot. She just fit right in that night, like we’d known her and been hanging out with her forever.”

  “So, you are seeing the young lady Zac brought to Jesse’s apartment?” Fiona was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she wasn’t Zac’s girlfriend.

  “Well, I don’t know if I’d call it seeing yet, but we’re definitely getting to know one another.” Putting her hand up to her mouth, she whispered to her friend’s mother, “You might get to go to that Wee Burn wedding someday.” They both laughed at the joke, as Wee Burn was a bastion of conservativism.

  “Okay, so the two sticking out to me here are either Gotham Hall or Capitale. It’s funny that they were both originally built as banks by great architects, with big rotunda rooms and Corinthian columns. Look at the details in both venues. They’re magnificent.” Kylie spread the press kits out on the table. “I think Jesse would love either space and both lend themselves well to setting up a stage, just in case.”

  “Will his bandmates be there?” Hayley asked.

  “He’s heard from the entire band, including Bongo, congratulating us and saying they were looking forward to coming in for the wedding and to getting back into the studio.” Kylie continued to pour over the information from the two sites.

  “That has to make Jesse feel good.”

  “It really does. It’s a weight off him and I know not worrying about that is really significant for him.” Now if we can only get rid of Claire, she thought. Jesse had come home from his last appointment still a patient of ‘The Evil Doctor,’ Kylie’s new nickname for her. Claire now wanted to treat them together, which, while it could provide them with so many answers about their souls’ journeys, meant they’d still be tied to her and that set off all Kylie’s red flags. But the chance of knowing more was still intriguing.

  Kylie knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was not their first rodeo with Dr. Claire Stoddard. Oh, no, none of this was a coincidence. Jesse had always been in the middle of them somehow and that woman did not like losing. She would go to any means not to be perceived as the loser. Of that, Kylie was sure. As the vision of Mme. Michaud looking down on her standing in the street, a twelve-year-old begging for her help, crossed Kylie’s mind’s eye, a hatred erupted from deep within, causing her to shiver. If that was really her, she left a twelve-year-old orphaned with no family to care for her, knowing the child’s future would hold rape and abuse and most likely death. That was it, she had to tell Jesse she couldn’t g
o back to Claire for joint sessions. Although she had no hard proof that the two women were, in fact, the same soul, she knew in her gut they both needed to stay as far away from her former shrink as possible.

  “You’re shivering and have goosebumps,” Fiona rubbed her daughter’s forearm where the pale golden hairs were standing straight up.

  Someday she and Jesse were going to need to share this other part of their lives with those they loved. She yearned to share that side of herself, but the time wasn’t right yet. And she didn’t know if it ever would be.

  “So, you’ve already visited all these places?” Kylie reentered the conversation, leaving eighteenth-century Paris, on just the other side of the veil.

  The two women nodded.

  “Of course, we have,” Fiona’s tone was indignant.

  “Well, you two have been busy little beavers.” Again, Kylie looked back between the brochures. “But seriously, thank you for doing this for me. What you have done in under a month would have taken me eight months to complete.”

  “Everyone wants to do your wedding, so we totally got the royal treatment everywhere,” shared Hayley. “It’s actually been a lot of fun.”

  “So, between these two, did either stand out head and shoulders above the other?”

  “They are both gorgeous venues, depends if you want to do midtown or downtown on the Bowery,” her mother offered.

  “A Jesse Winslow wedding screams Bowery to me. You know, home of CBGBs. The whole punk movement was born down there, it’s kinda just the right vibe. And it was designed by Stanford White, which adds another level of intrigue. But, I guess I should see them both,” Kylie acquiesced.

  “Who’s Stanford White?” Sip asked. “And how do you know about this building from the 1890s?”

  “There’s been books and movies about him. If he were around now, the paparazzi would be all over him. He was a notorious playboy obsessed with this woman, Evelyn Nesbit, who was basically America’s first supermodel, right around the turn of the century. She was a teenager and he was in his forties. And then she married this totally crazy rich guy who was flipped out that she lost her virginity to White. The husband became totally fixated on it and ended up shooting and killing Stanford White at Madison Square Garden,” she ended dramatically.

  “That is totally creepy and that White guy sounds like a pedophile,” the look on Sip’s face portrayed disgust. “Now I think you should take the other place and forget this one.”

  Kylie laughed. “He wasn’t killed in that building, so I think we’re safe. No ghosts to sabotage the wedding.”

  Fiona stood. “Let me call both places and we’ll see if we can do walk-throughs. We need to get this booked.”

  ••••••

  “Dr. Stoddard’s office,” the receptionist answered.

  “Hi, this is Jesse Winslow, is Dr. Stoddard available?” It was his appointment time and he wasn’t there, so he knew she was in the office.

  “Hello, Jesse. Is everything okay?” Claire was on the line.

  “Yes, everything is fine, Dr. S. I just wanted to let you know that Kylie and I have given serious thought to having you work with both of us together and we really feel, at this time, that it is in both our best interests to move on and work with another psychiatrist.”

  The pause was long and tense. Jesse was just glad he’d gotten it all out there, uninterrupted.

  “Are you saying that you will no longer be seeing me individually as a patient, in addition to me not working with you as a couple?” Claire’s usually melodious voice was tight.

  “Yes. That is what I’m saying. I appreciate all you have done for me, especially with this last detox and how successful it was, but circumstances have changed and it’s really in everyone’s best interest if we part ways. I hope you will still provide me with names of other doctors. I do, however, wish you the best.”

  Her sigh was loud. “Jesse, you are making a huge mistake. I know you think you know Kylie and that you are soulmates, but I don’t think this is a wise decision. Down the line I think you will be very happy and comforted should you continue your individual sessions as my patient.”

  “I appreciate your concern. I do. But I won’t be coming back and I look forward to you sending me an email with information for other psychiatrists that use hypnosis therapy.”

  “Jesse, you are making a grave mistake.”

  “Claire,” he called her by her given name, a first, “I’m sorry. But honestly, I think staying would be much more damaging. Take care of yourself.”

  When she didn’t respond, he hung up the phone.

  ••••••

  “Let’s work out in the private gym,” Zac suggested, based on the number of eyes on them. “We’ve always had high-profile clientele, so paparazzi is permanently camped out front, but I swear it’s tripled since you and Jesse got married. Everyone wants the scoop on the wedding.”

  Kylie laughed as she got down on the mats to begin stretching, “I know, it’s crazy. I see a few guys when I come in, and then when I leave it’s double, and it’s both the paparazzi and Jesse’s fans. How do they find out so quickly?”

  “They have apps on their phones. So much of the stalking is in near real time with these entertainment shows. Once their guys have got the pictures and statement, they upload it and it’s splashed in their breaking news section...and their app subscribers are getting text alerts. Stuff like Update: Jesse Winslow pumping iron and drinking smoothies at L9/NYC. So, by the time you’re leaving here, millions of people know it.”

  “That’s really so bizarre. We were just talking last night about bumping up security because it has gotten so much more intense, just from the time I first met Jesse.”

  “It is so crazy. I don’t know how you guys deal with it. Okay, let’s do twenty on the treadmill.” He programmed the machine. “We’re going to do a little foothills action here.” He finished pressing the buttons. “Jesse always had a crowd that followed him here, which was why this room was perfect for him, but it was never like it is now. And not to stroke your overinflated ego any more than it needs to be,” he smiled at her, “but the public never gave a shit about Jesse and Claudine the way they do about you and Jesse. It’s a totally different fascination.”

  “Really? You think?” How could that be? Kylie wondered. The woman was at the top of the top supermodels.

  “Oh, definitely,” he scoffed. “Red, you are so much more accessible than Claudine. She’s like not even real. And you’re this girl who’s had struggles with her weight the way they have, you’re real, and in a way, one of them. So, that makes Jesse more real for them, too. When he was with Claudine, it was like they were some pre-packaged thing nobody could relate to. Did people love Brad and Jennifer more than they liked Brad and Angelina? You bet they did. Although Angelina does great charity work, women don’t relate to her, where they want to be drinking coffee with Jennifer. She’s real and warm. And that’s you.”

  “I’m warm?” Kylie was surprised to hear that.

  “Mmm, maybe warm is not the right word, but you’re snarky and funny and definitely real. Face it, you ate your way out of a pageant title. What woman isn’t going to love that? That is like the best story ever. Okay, think about this, how much did the world adore Oprah through her diets. They loved her. They dieted with her. They gained weight with her. She was real, with real-life weight problems, just like them. Jesse has always been a mega-star, but the two of you together bring this crazy fascination, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.”

  “I feel bad that you’ve had to put ropes up at the front entrance to keep them back.” Kylie was out of breath. “What the hell did you do to this incline?”

  With a self-satisfied smile, Zac laughed. “You’ve just started a new program, babe.”

  “Oh, yeah, what’s that?” She was huffing and puffing.

  “Program I need to look hot in my wedding dress.” He stood there with his arms crossed over his muscular chest.
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  “This is why we went to City Hall. But no, you, my mother and Hayley, you’re all going to torture me and make me do this big lavish wedding.”

  The treadmill slowed to a halt and Kylie stepped off and headed straight for the refrigerator, grabbing a cold bottle of water, she pressed it against her forehead. “That was murder.”

  “You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet,” he smirked. “So, where’s the wedding going to be? Have you decided?” He pointed to the biceps/triceps chair.

  Kylie was happy to take a seat. “The two that I’m considering are Gotham Hall and Capitale. It’s funny because they were both initially built as banks and are ornate and built around a center rotunda space, so there’s a similarity between the two. Obviously, I’ve got a style of architecture that I like. We’ve got sit-downs with them over the next two weeks to look at the nitty-gritty and availability and then make a choice.”

  “Those spaces sound like L9,” he commented.

  Kylie thought for a second. “You’re right. No wonder why I’m attracted to those two places.”

  “You should get married here.”

  “Here? What and come down the aisle between the treadmills and ellipticals?” She laughed.

  “Yeah, we’ll just seat guests in rowing machines,” Zac laughed. “We’ve done a load of big events here and they’ve been great. Obviously, the equipment disappears and tables move in. My dad and his partner, Yoli Perez, work with Elan Gerstler of Claret Productions, and he handles everything. If you’re interested, you should talk to my dad.”

  “Wow. I hadn’t even thought about this. I’ll run it by Jesse.”

  ••••••

  It was the fifth text he’d gotten in the three weeks since he’d told Dr. Stoddard he was no longer going to be her patient. He’d never received a list of other doctors, but that wasn’t really very surprising.

  The texts, however, were a total surprise. The woman had, for the most part, been very professional and he thought she would let it end that way.