Past Destinies. Constance Ruth Clark
‘normal’ either. She looked like a movie director’s idea of a traveling gypsy. Bright colors were woven through her skirt under a white peasant shirt, a red and black scarf covering her head. As he continued escorting Trisha inside, the gypsy came through the crowd of photographers and journalists to meet him at the door. No one tried to stop her or got in her way. Instead, people moved aside without seeming to notice her.
“Yes, it is you.” She grasped his arm firmly, capturing his gaze with her own.
“Excuse me?” He let go of Trisha’s arm and stared down into the stranger’s wrinkled face, covering her hand with his.
“Despair not,” she said, smiling up at him with a toothless grin. “Alone much longer you will not be.”
“What?” Doug asked. “What are you talking about?”
He was beginning to feel like an idiot because he didn’t know what she meant, yet he felt like he should. There was something about her that held his attention. She seemed important somehow, and he wanted to question her further. Before he could, Trisha snatched Doug’s arm away.
“Shoo you old hag, he doesn’t talk to people like you,” she hissed as she tried to tug him away.
“Trisha, don’t be rude!” he said sharply, turning to reprimand her.
When he turned back to ask the old woman what she’d meant by her words, she was gone. Damn! What had she meant? Now he might never know.
“Honestly Doug, what were you thinking?” Trisha headed to the restaurant entrance, seemingly oblivious to his frustration, but turned back when he didn’t move.
Giving her a piercing look, he didn’t say anything. When he saw her shiver under his gaze, he decided he’d made his point. Striding past her into the restaurant, he didn’t bother holding the door open.
As they sat at their private table and ordered drinks, Doug realized something he should have known all along: he couldn’t propose to a woman whom he didn’t love. It didn’t matter how lonely he was. He’d been fooling himself for too long, dating someone like Trisha. Struggling to make conversation through dinner he knew that tonight wasn’t the night to propose to her. It was the time to break up with her instead.
“I’m sorry about what I said to that dear, older lady.” He knew Trisha was trying to get Doug to acknowledge her the way he had done in the past.
“Are you?”
Not that it really mattered to him. It was over between them–her rude behavior toward someone less fortunate had clinched it for him. Deciding it was kinder to end it now than lead her on any further, Doug took a sip of the excellent vintage he’d ordered and carefully set down his wine glass.
“You know it’s over, don’t you?” he said evenly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Trisha stabbed a fork into her salad. “I’d tell you if I thought it was over.”
“I’m telling you,” Doug said firmly. “It’s over.”
“You bastard.” Trisha almost snapped her fork in half as she set it next to her plate and leaned forward. “Men don’t break up with me! I break up with them!”
“Welcome to the other side,” Doug said with a wry grin, shifting uncomfortably in his seat when she burst into tears.
Taking a long slim velvet box from his breast pocket, he slid it across the table to her. He’d bought it for her as an anniversary gift when he still thought they’d be a couple. Now he gave it to her as a parting gift.
“This should dry your tears.”
She took it silently, sniffing loudly as she opened it, then gasped when she saw the diamond tennis bracelet inside. She looked up at him, her eyes slightly moist, but he knew she would mourn the loss of his gifts and status more than him. Snapping the box shut, she stood abruptly and picked up her purse.
“Call me if you change your mind.”
“I’ll do that,” Doug said, not bothering to rise. “Jerry will drive you home.”
He wasn’t so much of a bastard that he’d leave her at the restaurant with no way home. Watching her leave, he resolved not to bother settling again when it came to love. Picking up his wineglass, he motioned the waiter over, requesting Trisha’s place cleared away. Ordering dessert, he ignored the whispers from the other diners while waiting for Jerry to return.
As he walked into his apartment an hour later Doug decided a nightcap was in order before turning in. It had been a long evening and hadn’t ended the way he’d originally planned. Sitting down in a wing chair next to the gas fireplace in his den, he considered the important people in his life. His parents were already gone, and his sister had her own life. More than anything, he wanted a family of his own and the sense of belonging it brought.
Downing his drink, he thought maybe he’d go back to Vermont. A change of scene might do him good.
The ringing of his cellphone startled him out of his thoughts. He glanced down at the caller ID.
“Hey sis,” he said, “why are you calling so late?”
Laughter greeted him across the receiver.
“Hey big brother!” His sister Daphne’s voice sounded happy and just a little tipsy. “Guess what?”
“You’re coming out for a visit?” he asked, mentally kicking himself as soon as the words left his mouth. He didn’t want his sister to suspect he might be lonely.
“I’m engaged!” she screamed into the phone, making Doug wince and hold the receiver away from his ear. “Isn’t that fabulous?”
Doug grinned at her enthusiasm.
“Yeah sis, that’s great,” he said. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks. The wedding will be next summer, and I want you to give me away.”
Doug swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.
“Of course, sweetie,” he said after realizing she couldn’t see him nod. “I’d be honored. Jackson is a lucky guy.”
A few minutes later he hung up, feeling more alone than ever. His baby sister was getting married. It wasn’t just them against the world anymore, not that it had been for years, but she’d always been a phone call away. While he was genuinely happy for her, he couldn’t help feeling a little jealous she’d found someone and had taken steps to starting her own family the same night his own plans had fallen apart.
Staring into the fire and feeling a little tipsy himself, Doug made a decision. He was done living his life according to others’ ideas of what he should be doing. He was going to return to the house his parents had left him in Vermont and become the country doctor he’d once planned before getting trapped in the Hollywood bullshit. He’d started to feel like he had been caught in an undertow and couldn’t breathe. Making the decision to leave it all behind lifted a weight from his shoulders he hadn’t realized had been holding him down.
Heading up the stairs to bed, he decided he’d tell Alan tomorrow it was over and wrap up his remaining projects. If all went well, he could be in Vermont by the end of the month. Shucking off his clothes and falling into bed, it wasn’t long until he was asleep and dead to the world.
While he slept, Doug had strange dreams that didn’t make any sense. He was in a misty place, and a beautiful woman stood nearby. She looked distressed, as if she’d lost something and seemed to be searching for it. Needing to comfort her, Doug tried to move nearer but found he couldn’t get close enough to touch her. She abruptly turned and stared directly into his eyes. The intensity of desire in that look hit him like a blow to the stomach.
She reached for him with outstretched hands, with a smile of joy he knew was meant for him. He ran toward her with his hands extended, but as he was about to touch her she disappeared,