Snuggling up on the bed while I waited, it wasn’t long before I fell asleep. The fingers of the reconnect crept into my conscientiousness and I sat up, instantly awake and alert. There was light knocking and I went to the door, very excited to see them but there was no one there. I turned back into the room confused, not an unusual state for me. The knocking continued and I followed the sound. The knock was coming from an adjoining door. Again I yanked open the door and that time both Lu and Michael were standing there smiling at me.
For the second it took to recognize each other, we stared. With the grace of old pros we came together in a 3-person full body hug that was smooth and completely rewarding.
Michael and I sandwiched Lu with our bodies and took joy in the kitten like sounds she made of pleasure, relief, and eventual contentment.
Lu cried into my shoulder.
“Elena, I miss you so. Michael and I are sorry for leaving you out. We love you Elena.”
Her sweet apology brought tears to my eyes but the tears turned to laughter when I felt her kissing me and then I felt Michael kissing me, too. I let the apologies go on a bit longer but then I stopped all of the talk about regret.
“It’s really good to be here with you and I get that you’re happy I’m back in your life. I accept it all and want things back the way they were before. Promise me that we’re done talking about the past without each other and any crap that may have occurred and let’s move on, ok?”
They both shook their heads in the affirmative. After that we ordered room service for a late dinner. They ordered from their room and I ordered from my room; we were spies, remember. We joined each other when the orders arrived, sharing our meal and our time.
After dinner we spent the time just talking and reconnecting over and over again. We had a short catch. We nearly clung to each other the entire night. I actually did sleep with them in their bed. All of us spooned in together; we enjoyed the peace of the reconnect through the night.
The following morning we were all so happy and peaceful that Michael and Lu began to lament our time away from each other again. I saw where the conversation was going and nipped it in the bud.
“Please be positive for our final hours together today. It’s going to be hard enough to separate, please let’s make our time together good and stop thinking about what can make us feel bad or sorry, ok, guys?”
That was a signal to hook up and we all collided into each other for another joyful reconnect. We ordered breakfast separately again and then shared our meal in their suite. Michael had bought me and Lu new cell phones with new numbers for us so we could reach each other. We knew the phones weren’t bugged so we all felt safer. Michael wanted hourly check-ins but I suggested that a call in the morning to report about the night before would be good and maybe a call at night to report anything from the day. Of course, if something came up we’d call immediately.
I lingered as long as possible but finally had to leave them. Being the first to go I decided to confuse anyone who’d been assigned to follow me if there were such a person. A detour took me to the airport and then to the Northgate Shopping Center and then some grocery shopping and then I headed home.
The date with Rick was center in my thoughts as I went about taking care of my Saturday household chores. The location of our dinner plans were still a mystery to me so I was unsure of the clothing I should wear. Rick would probably call to confirm so I just needed to ask him.
When the phone rang I was just coming in from a visit to the garden. “Hello,” I said.
“Helen; its Rick.”
“Hello, Rick,” I said.
Michael liked it when I said his name so I thought I’d treat Rick to the same.
“Helen, I’m going to have to cancel our date tonight.” His voice was ‘matter of fact’ without a hint of indecision in it.
“Oh Rick, that’s too bad. I was hoping for a chance to wear my new dress. Rick, are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Any rain check available,” I asked.
“I’ll let you know.” The conversation was short and a bit uncomfortable.
Immediately I passed the information on to Michael and Lu who were still in San Francisco. Annoyance was creeping into my attitude when it came to Michael and Lu; I wanted to be with them and was starting to get pissed off that I was so close and yet unable to reconnect. The annoyance grew to include Rick for cancelling on me again and then leaving me hanging.
Just as I was folding up ‘the reconnect’ phone, the house phone rang.
“Hello,” I said.
“I just cleared my calendar and can make our date; you haven’t made other arrangements, have you?”
“Hello Rick,” I said.
“No I haven’t made other plans. You’ve just lifted my spirits. Will you be here at the same time as planned?”
“See you at 6,” he said, ending the call.
“Bye,” I said hastily into the phone to get my word in.
Another call to Michael and Lu with an update wasn’t received with much enthusiasm.
“Crap, I was just feeling relaxed that you wouldn’t be going anywhere with him tonight. Will you call me the minute you get home, please?”
“Everything’s gonna be fine. I’ll call as soon as I get home or as soon as I can anyway. How long are you guys gonna be in San Francisco?”
“We’re making plans to leave tomorrow morning. We’ll be heading home to London. We were talking and want to you to come to London and stay with us for a couple of weeks. Is that possible in the next few of months?” I was glad to hear that they were trying to figure a way for me to be in their lives again.
“That sounds just lovely. I’ll have to let you know; I plan to focus all of my attention on Rick to fix the misunderstanding that’s gotten out of control.”
“Please Elena, come.” Lu’s sweet voice made me smile to myself. I had missed her more than I thought was possible. Missing Michael was a given; I had a major connection to him but missing Lu so much was a surprise to me. Even I didn’t know the depth of my feelings for her until she was gone.”
“Lu, I can’t come until after this thing with Rick is solved. There’s no telling what he might do to you guys. Death better take me before he harms either of you or I will kill him for sure. I love you.”
Michael came back on the phone reminding me to be careful and to put 911 on my speed dial before Rick arrived. He told me he loved me and that he’d talk to me after the date.
There were two hours available to me to do the research I needed where Rick was concerned. I sat in the ‘Pinky bank’ and closed my eyes; bringing back into my recall the day before in Ricks office was as easy as a thought.
At first Rick’s secretary consumed my vision; she practically had an aura around her of nervousness. They’d had an argument of some kind before I got there. There was residue from the issue still clinging to their clothes and skin. Even though Rick was angry, he was glad to see me. He was rude and glad at the same time. It was very clear that he was trying hard to keep his anger in the forefront but was losing at the effort. The point where his secretary brought the coffee and the scotch is when I saw his biggest tell. He was showing off for her. When we kissed that fabulous kiss before I left, he was actually looking around. I thought that he probably wanted her to see us together. After examining and re-examining that scene in Rick’s office I came to the conclusion that Rick was in love with his secretary. That was valuable information.
The door bell rang at exactly 6 o’clock; I answered in a black cocktail dress. Rick, wearing a nice navy blue suit and a smile brought me flowers –