Aqua's Achilles

by Kate Cambridge

  "Really, sweetie, it's best to cleanse your home before you make any changes to it. Otherwise, you could disrupt the flow of energy and then you might find that everything goes wonky in the house. You don't want that do you?"

  "No, I don't, but tonight might not be the best night for it,” she stuttered, biting the corner of her lip. They didn’t seem to get the hint.

  "I brought my tools," chimed in her dad as he adjusted the strap on his shoulder and offered a proud smile.

  "Thanks, Dad." Aqua’s heart warmed as she saw the eagerness in her parent’s eyes. They were proud of her, excited for her, and she didn't want to dampen that in any way, even if it meant that Blake might be scared off. "Blake has offered to help too," Aqua added cheerfully, as a second knock came at the door.

  "Blake? What does he have to do with it?" Miri glanced up just as Aqua opened the door for the second time. Aqua refrained from the warm hug she wanted to give Blake when she saw him and simply opened the door wide. Her mother’s reaction was different. She tensed and squinted her eyes. Her father just arched his eyebrows in surprise.

  "Miri, it's good to see you. How are you feeling?" Blake asked, his voice held surprise, yet a genuine concern for his patient.

  "Just fine, thank you." Miri offered with a slight huff.

  Aqua hurried into the kitchen and took a deep breath. In truth, she wanted to get away from the awkwardness that took place in her entry, but guilt over abandoning Blake won the day and she picked up some paint supplies on her way back to the living room.

  "So, where do we start?" Gavin dropped his toolbox on the floor with a thump. "I can see you're going to need some new windows."

  Aqua smiled. It was so like her dad to move past any exchange and focus on the matter at hand. In some ways, Blake reminded her of her father. Her mother, however, was a different story altogether. She eyed Blake as if he was Satan who had just walked into the Vatican for a meeting with the pope. "Maybe, but not just yet, dad. I really just want to paint the place and pull up the carpet. It’s all I can afford at the moment."

  "Oh fine, did you get the low-VOC, environmentally friendly paint?" Dad eyed the cans of paint stacked along the wall curiously.

  "Um, if they were the cheapest." Aqua flashed her father a hopeful smile, her tilted as she said it and eyebrows raised.

  "Oh dear.” Her dad stalked up and down in front of the cans of paint like a sergeant inspecting his platoon. He frowned and cleared his throat. “Now you don't want to put toxins on your walls, Aqua.” Dad’s face lit up. “I'll just take these back to the store, and get you the right kind.” Seeing the hesitation play on his daughter’s face, he said, “It’s no trouble at all.”

  "Dad, I don't want you to spend that kind of money right now." Aqua stepped in front of the paint in an attempt to deflect her father’s focus from them. Blake looked back and forth between the two of them, and if Aqua didn’t know better, she’d have thought he was actually enjoying it.

  "Nonsense, it'll be my housewarming present. It won't take long. Blake, why don't you help me load these up?" He met Blake's eyes kindly and homed in on the first can of paint, pulling on the handle gingerly to make his point.

  "Aqua?" Blake looked over at her for confirmation.

  "Sure." She let out a sigh, resigning herself to the inevitable. There was no way that she could argue with her dad. "Dad's right, I shouldn't cheap out on paint that's going to be on the walls for years."

  "I don't want my grand babies licking chemicals off of the walls." Gavin nodded and grabbed two cans of paint. He winked at Blake. “Are you missing some, Aqua? All I see here is white.”

  "Licking?" Blake laughed.

  "Sure, Aqua had a bad habit of it when she was a baby. Personally, I think it was because she didn't eat enough dirt from the backyard, but you can't force kids to eat dirt then, can you?" Dad shrugged.

  "Um, no. I guess not." Bewildered, Blake stared at him.

  "Dad! No stories about me licking things, please." Aqua placed her hands on her hips and flicked her head in the direction of the door. Her face was as red as a tomato. “Why don’t the two of you get going? And yes, Dad, it’s all white. I’m going with a Scandinavian minimalist look.” At the look of surprise on her father’s face, she quickly added, “But don’t worry, I’ll accent with colorful art.”

  "Oh it’s okay, that’s up to you, and don't worry Aqua. We took pictures." Dad turned to Blake. “I could show you if you like?” Gavin hooted. “My baby was so cute. She looked like a kitten with a bowl of cream.” With that, he bent down and picked up the cans of paint and started hauling them out to his truck.

  Blake glanced in Aqua’s direction with raised eyebrows, barely holding back a laugh. “You like licking stuff, huh?” he chuckled and followed Gavin out the door with more cans before a fuming Aqua could say anything.

  "Aqua, do you have any salt?" Aqua’s moms’ voice trilled out of the kitchen. She breathed a sigh of relief realizing her mother had missed that interaction.

  Aqua stepped into the kitchen to find her mother going through all of her cabinets. “Oh, mom. Really—is this necessary?”

  Miri spun around on her heels. “Of course. You should know better than to ask me that.” She turned around again to continue her search.

  "It's there, on the counter." Aqua pointed it out as she joined her. "You're not going to use it all, are you?"

  "Well, it depends." Mom frowned as she studied the salt. "It's not the type I would usually use, but it will have to do." Miri shook her head while she studied the packaging. “You should really not skimp on high-quality salt, Aqua. I will bring some organic salt sourced in Tibet or maybe some nice Portuguese sea salt the next time I come. Maybe tomorrow. This stuff will kill you,” she reprimanded.

  Aqua shrugged. “I picked up the first one I found on the shelf at the supermarket.”

  “I can see that. Surely my daughter would not knowingly choose this processed white sodium chloride chemical stuff.” Satisfied that her daughter agreed, Miri continued rummaging through the cabinets.

  "Mom, you really don't have to do all of this." Aqua frowned as she watched her mother begin to arrange the candles all over the place.

  "Trust me, you'll thank me when your dishwasher doesn't spit water all over the floor or the fridge breaks down. Appliances have energy too, you know."

  "Okay." Aqua took a deep breath and slid her hands into her pockets. It wasn't that she faulted her mother's beliefs. As a child, she'd participated in many cleansing rituals and didn't see any harm in them. But as an adult, having lived in a different world for some time, witnessing it again was more than a little strange. Her fast-paced lifestyle in New York City was very far removed from her mother’s rituals and crystals.

  Aqua watched her mom move about her house making sure that everything was in place. Her mother believed that everything in the world was connected by energy. A force that she was convinced was love. She had once even said that the famous scientist Albert Einstein had believed the same with his theory of relativity. According to Miri, Einstein had said that the there was no more powerful force in the universe than love. It connected everything, and one day all of humanity would realize this, making everything perfect, as it always should have been. Clearly, her mother had never worked for the CIA.

  “All we need is love, da da da-ta da…” hummed Miri as she moved about with determination. She happily lit candles here and there. “You know that when the positive reigns, you will have no woes in life?”

  “Yeah, mom, I know.” Aqua started to get worried about what Blake might think of this little ritual when he got back. She wondered if she could rush her along.

  “Don’t you ‘yeah mom’ me, Aqua. You know how important positive energy is. All you need to do is think happy and good thoughts and everything will be as you want it. Be kind to all beings and that will be returned to you infinitely.”

  “Like when you badmouthed, Blake, when you had the accident?” It irritated Aqua
that her mom could be such a hypocrite sometimes.

  Miri stopped what she was doing. Guilt flashed across her face, but it didn’t take long for the expression on her face to soften. “You’re right, Aqua. I set a very bad example. I am sorry.” After a few heartbeats, she resumed her preparations. Aqua’s mother believed that when you admitted to your faults, the energy was released to flow freely, and that was that. “You are going to be so happy here, Aqua. I can feel it.” Miri slowly walked back to her daughter’s side and scanned the living room. “I can feel a positive energy. I can understand why you bought this house. It is full of it.”

  "What's happening here?" Blake came to a standstill behind Aqua. He watched Miri light the candles. “Are we having some kind of a séance or something?”

  "My mom is going to perform a cleansing on my house to get the ghosts out of my appliances and all the other nooks and crannies. It creates positive energy." Aqua smiled as she directed a, don’t you dare disagree look at Blake. "Want to chant with us?" she asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

  Blake blinked, and for just a moment Aqua thought he might decline.

  "I'm not very good at chanting." He cleared his throat nervously. “I think I will just observe. I wouldn’t want to spoil the ritual.” Blake added.

  “Oh, it’s no problem, Blake. We want you to participate, don’t we Mom?” Aqua suggested with an equally mischievous grin.

  "Oh, darling, did you decide which room will be your meditation room yet? We'll need to place a few crystals there." Miri moved about the living room, eying everything critically. So far, she hadn’t even acknowledged Blake had returned.

  "Not yet." Aqua fell into step behind her mother. "Maybe you could choose?"

  "One whole room for meditation?" Blake followed after them. "Is that really necessary?"

  "Sure. Even though you can meditate anywhere having a dedicated space free of clutter and electronics can make a big difference to your peace of mind. You should try it, Blake." Miri paused in front of one of the smaller bedrooms. "This is perfect. See how much light it will get with all of those windows?" She pursed her lips. “Also, it is the furthest away from the living room.”

  Blake arched his eyebrows. “Why is that important?”

  “Because young people today can’t seem to live without wireless internet. I assume that the infernal device will be set up in the living room. In here, the impact of the wireless waves will be weaker, which makes it easier to focus.” Miri looked up at Blake and smiled softly. It pleased her that he was at least showing some interest in the way she did things.

  "Good choice." Aqua nodded. "I'm going to get started on taking down some wallpaper."

  "I'll help you." Blake followed her into the living room. "Your mother has some interesting ideas."

  "Maybe." She began to tear up the corner of the wallpaper close to the floor. "They've served her well so far."

  "But, you don't buy into all of that crystals and candles nonsense do you?" He chuckled dismissively.

  "It's no different from someone believing in a Catholic ceremony, is it?" Aqua shrugged. "They both use incense. Besides, it doesn't harm anyone. I've been known to light a candle during a difficult situation, and I often use deep breathing and meditation to balance out my mental health. Surely you’ve read the studies," she added for good measure.

  Blake paused, as Miri's chanting grew louder. "I guess I'm just not experienced with it. I have never seen a cleansing, okay, it’s possible I’ve never even heard of it before." He offered.

  "People always fear what they don't understand. It's okay." She smiled as she tore some more wallpaper off of the wall. "I may not go through all the rituals my mother does, but that doesn't mean I don't respect her beliefs. I'm sure that you and your parents have some differences of opinions, but you still respect them right?"

  "You're right. I'm sorry if I came off as disrespectful, I didn't intend that." Blake rested his hand on her shoulder. "Really."

  "I know you didn't, Blake." Aqua stared into his eyes for a long moment. "I know you." As the whisper left her lips she realized how true they were. Even though time had passed, she still saw the same Blake behind those gorgeous eyes. The same good heart. “Did you know that Einstein shared the same beliefs as my mom,” she said repeating what her mom had said earlier, working hard to keep the teasing out of her voice.

  Blake frowned. “No, I didn’t.”

  “A lot of what Einstein believed had to do with energy and its effect on the universe. My mom told me earlier that he thought that this force was love – action, and reaction if you were.”

  “Action and reaction?” Blake pulled on some wallpaper, ripping it off the wall. “Like when I think about something, regardless of how randomly, and then it happens.”

  “Yeah, something like that. Have you ever noticed that when you start off your day in a bad way everything tends to get worse because you can’t get that initial thing out of your mind? It has a way of coloring your whole day.”

  “Hm.” Blake offered.

  “At some point, you stop being all grouchy and everything gets better. It’s the same as when you want something or somebody and you send off positive vibes with good thoughts about the person or thing. Accompany the thoughts and prayers with action and invariably my mother believes you will get what you desire. In my experience sometimes, your wish comes true in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, she believes this is also true for negative thoughts. Think too hard about falling over and hurting yourself and you most certainly will.”

  With his lips pressed together, Blake let a rumble roll in his throat. “I can’t really comment on all of that, Aqua, but I will say this… I spent years thinking about you. I was certain that I would see you again and hoped to someday kiss you.” He chuckled as he moved closer. “If that’s an example of your mother’s positive energy working for me, then I can entertain it, at least in this situation. Remember how we kissed just the other night?” He swept his arm around the room. “Now look where I’m standing. In the house of the most beautiful woman I know, and even if I do say so myself, I think she likes kissing me maybe as much as I like kissing her -- and to top it off, I think she might have missed me, too.”

  Aqua found it impossible to be angry with him. “That is one of the sweetest things anybody has ever said to me,” she said, pulling away.

  “I thought telling you that nobody ever made me feel the way you do wasn’t bad either,” said Blake with a playful smirk. He moved forward for more.

  Aqua stretched out her arm between them, her hand resting on his chest. “Now don’t get greedy.” Aqua laughed. “Don’t forget that my mother is right through that door.”

  “How could I forget?” he asked, one eyebrow raised as the chanting continued from the other room.

  “Okay, we got the right paint. I chose a light green color. Green is always positive and gives off good vibes. Your mom would agree with me.” Aqua’s dad placed the cans on the floor with a thwack. “Even Blake agreed.” He laughed and looked at Aqua with a knowing smile. “I can see why. He was eager to get back here, and probably would’ve agreed to neon yellow.”

  At the look of shock on Aqua’s face, her father chuckled. “Just kidding, Aqua, it’s all white, just like you ordered. Come on, Blake. Help me get the rest of the cans in the house.”

  Chapter 13

  The next two weeks passed by quickly, and Blake showed up every evening to help Aqua, as promised. In exchange, Aqua prepared dinner for him as a way of thanking him.

  Often after a few hours of work, they would curl up on the couch and watch TV together. A few times Blake was called out on house calls, and Aqua was struck by how quiet those evenings seemed.

  At the end of many nights, on the porch, under the light Blake had helped her install, he kissed her goodnight, and never once did he ask to stay. She tried not to read into it, and to just go with the flow, grateful that the crazy pace they started out with, had naturally slowed to something a bit mor
e normal.

  Aqua’s dad never mentioned the kiss he had witnessed. Every time Aqua visited her parent’s house, she expected a heated discussion with her parents asking how she could betray them by choosing a man who despised them, but it never came.

  It was as if Aqua’s dad had never told her. However, Aqua knew that that was impossible because they told each other everything. Or did they? A niggling doubt about their honesty tugged at the back of her mind.

  * * *

  One Friday evening, just after Blake arrived at her house, Aqua realized that after she and Blake finished the last wall in her bedroom, there would be nothing left to do. There would be no excuse for Blake to stop by every day after work.

  She picked up a roller to coat the wall, and felt his hand curl around her wrist. She held her breath as his body cozied up just behind hers. The heat was so palpable that it made her shudder with pleasure.

  “You don't have enough paint on there.” It was a simple statement, but his tone conveyed much more.

  “Oh you're right, I should get more.” She started to bend down but realized that she would bump right into him if she did. Blake slid the handle from her grasp.

  “Let me.” He leaned over her, wrapping his free arm around her waist as he did, then gently pulled her into him so her body cocooned in his, as he brushed paint on the wall.

  It was incredibly intimate, and Aqua’s heart pounded in her throat. They'd kissed here and there, especially while they snuggled on the couch. But this was different. He was in her bedroom, and it was late; his breath lightly moved the hair tucked behind her ear, and she desperately wanted to make this moment last—and take it further. Panic flashed through her stomach and she wondered if giving in to it would alter what they had built over the last few weeks. She didn’t want to risk that.

  “I think I'm going to get some water. Do you want some?” She moved to the side, out of his arms.