Midsummer's Eve (3 page)

“It has even crossed her mind to try to convince her husband to allow
her to come back home, but he’
s finished with her. He has been living with her infidelity for years.”

Come on Wang Chung! Have a little fun tonight. Take her back
.

“
Adam
has picked up the phone
several times lately
wanting to call you.”
 

My heart began a clamorous clanging
in my chest at her words. Taking
a quick peek at m
y
phone to make
sure it hadn’
t
accidentally
powered off, I
sat straight up and fiddled with a basket of potpourri on the end table beside my chair.
“
Yea
h! Right! And what stopped him?”

“
He didn'
t think you would talk to him.”
 

Oh, Sweet Jesus! Just to hear his heavily accented Yankee voice. “He was right,” I lied in a feverish attempt to hide the despe
ration I was feeling. “I wouldn’
t have talked to him then and I hope I never hear his voice again.”
I prayed fervently that I wouldn’t get struck by lightening on the way out for allowing that whopper to fall from my lips!

She covered her mouth with her hand in a failing attempt to hide a smil
e. Her brilliant green
eyes near
ly
sparkled as she glanced at something in the area over my shoulder. Evidently
,
her clever spirit guide was bouncing with gl
ee and mouthing the words, “She’
s lying,” and giving Lady Wonder a clear vision of me bolting to the phone, stubbing my toe on a table
leg,
and sending whatnots flying in every direction as I snatched it up on the first ring. Damn! I should have remembered she was a freaking psychic!

She recovered, brought her gaze back to me and said with all seriousness, “He will be calling you within three weeks.

Stop the presses! 

“But be warned. This man will never stop cheating with other women. It’s in his blood. If you allow yourself to get involved with him again it will lead to a life of heartache. When he calls
,
do not answer. I
gnore him. T
his is your year. A
side from the fact that you won’
t have
Adam
, everything else in your life will improve.
In fact, by midsum
mer
, Eve,
there will be so much happening in your life that you will rarely even give Adam a second thought.
”

Seriously? If she honestly believed there was even the most remote possibility of my life improving without
Adam
in it
,
then she, along with her inept spirit guide, might consider registering at the local community college for another semester of Remedial Fortune Telling.
Adam
might be able to switch his feeling
s
on
and off like
a light bulb, but it wasn’t that easy
for me. We were meant to be together
!
I have
the wedding dress!
I mean
, come on. Adam and Eve? It’s
biblical!
If that isn’t a sign that we were meant to be together, please, tell me what is!

             
Suddenly, I noticed an abrupt change in her demeanor
,
as she gathered my hands in hers. Hers were so warm and comforting
,
that I felt like I had known her for years. She closed her eyes for several seconds
,
then opened them
,
looking at me with such a depth of sadness
that
I wanted to cry. This couldn't be good.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I must tell you some bad news.”

No shit! Imagine that! Certainly no beating around the bush with this woman! How bad could it be? I had no desire to fin
d out! Nope! Time to go! I wasn’
t going to wait arou
nd to hear any bad news. I didn’
t have to hear it from a stranger. Hell, I lived it daily!

Jerking my hands from hers, I braced them on the arms of the chair in preparation for a
hasty departure. I shouldn’
t have come here. She
didn’
t know anything about me, or my life. She was a quack. She was gue
ssing. Plus, I wasn’
t
at all
sure
my fragile mental state could withstand more bad news.

However
,
my traitorous legs refused to cooperate and lift me. It was almost like my body was forcing me to listen to he
r. I tried to speak, but couldn’
t. Either she
had put a spell on me
,
or I really didn’
t want to leave without hearing what she had to say. I saw her getting
ready to speak again. Don’t! Don’
t!
Hush! I wanted to cry out
, but the words refused to leave my lips. Please! Whatever it is! Don't say it! Just let me return home unscathed!

“Chia is pregnant!”

Oh my God! That couldn’
t be true. She was lying. I felt sick. C
hia’
s seventh child would belong to
Adam
? Surely her devious spirit guide was playing a horrible joke on me.

I could see it now. I would be Christmas shopping and pass
Adam
, Chia, and their little bundle of joy in the infant section at Target.
Adam
would be tenderly cradling a tiny replica of himself in his arms, while gazing at the woman of his dreams with adoring eyes. What if I was in a restaurant and they were in the booth across from me holding hands, laughing at a private joke-- probably at how they had succeeded i
n duping my dumb ass
-- and sipping a latte
? We all lived in the sa
me town. There would have to eventually be a chance meeting.

“She doesn’t want the baby,” Lady Wonder
announced abruptly. “
She wants
to have an abortion. She has no desire
to b
e tied down
with an
infant again, now that her children
are all in school
.” She leaned back in her chair seemingly oblivious to the intensity of pain her words were causing me. “The thoug
ht of an abortion devastates Adam
.”

“
He’s a big boy. He’
ll get over it.” 

“
I know
you don’
t want to hear this, although
I must be honest.”

             
“Trust me, I don’
t mind if you lie.” 

“
Adam
loves this woman more than he has ever lov
ed anyone
. He thinks that her having a baby will be a way to tie her to
him forever. He knows what kind
of woman she is and accepts it. He believes that her having his child will be a means to settle her down and convince her to accept his proposal of marriage."

Proposal? Did she say proposal
? “
What makes him think one kid will tie her to him
when her husband couldn’
t keep her with six
?”
I sobbed, imagining
Adam
in labor and delivery with Chia as the
irritating
Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater
nursery rhyme played over and over in my head.

“
He does
n’
t care about any of that. He’s in love with her and love is blind.” 

“
Wi
ll she marry him?" T
ears of hurt, pain and betrayal coursed down my cheek.

“
Probably. However
,
it won’
t b
e the happily ever after
that
Adam
dreams about. By
summer
she will have met another man and fallen madly in love.
Adam
will be deva
stated
.”

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! 

“He will feel like his life is over. He will be feeling exactly what you are feeling now, in fact, only worse. Always rememb
er my dear, you reap what you so
w.”

“That’s what my mom always says.” I hiccupped, but the flow o
f tears had slowed just a bit. “
Is she going to have an abortion?”

“Yes. An
d that’
s when
Adam
’s world will
slowly
begin to crumble
. He’
ll realize that if she lo
ved him
a
s he loved her
she would want to have his baby. She wouldn’
t be able to
kill a part of him.”
Then her face took on
an
irritated expression.
“
Do you know who he will turn to
for comfort when this happens?”

“
Me?”
Oh! If that could
only be true, I would straddle
the bad breathed wonder
on the way out
and French kiss him for an hour!

“Like I told you before,
Adam
will never change. He will always be a skirt chaser. A doctor might even diagnose him as having a condi
tion known as Sexual Addiction.”

Duh, Eve! Can you say Tiger Woods? How could I have been such an ignoramus? Tiger had admitted to seeking therapy in rehab for sexual addiction. In fact, I had often heard the term, but never had the common sense to apply it to
Adam
.

As with most
obsessive disorders there were probably medications to keep the powerful cravings of this addiction under control. I would go online the minute I got home and learn everything there was to know on the subject, and call a Help Line. It was all so crystal clear now! His cheat
ing was an addiction. He couldn’
t help it. Bless him. The poor man just needed someone to understand his sickness, and some counseling.

The dreamy smile on my face must have been a dead giveaway that I was having a rare jubilant moment, because she swiftl
y wiped it from my face with her hateful words.
“
Adam
’s ideal woman is Asian. He likes the different little things they do in the bedroom. He rarely finds an Ame
rican woman sexually appealing.”

Her
I
must be honest
mantra was a
bout to piss me off. Why couldn’
t she let me savor even the tiniest bit of hope before she stomped on it and crushed it in
to
the carpet? “
Does
Adam
ever think about me?”

“
No.”

Did she take pleasure in saying that word? Or had I only imag
ined it? Why did this woman dislike
me so? Had she never heard of little white lies to protect the innocent
? Couldn’
t she see that I was close to slipping over the edge here? Maybe she needed to twist the knife a little deeper next time she plunged it through my liver?

“He did the first couple of weeks after the breakup. Now
you rarely ever cross his mind.”
Then she stood up, signaling that our time was up.

I
t looked like I might be getting the last laugh after all. For no matter how in love
Adam
was, just knowing that his little Chia Pet was going to break his cheating heart thrilled me to the very core. And spring was just around the corner. A few more weeks and he would be feeling the pain I was feeling now. Lady Wonder had said so herself. Pay back is a bitch.     

“
Okay. That will be fifteen dollars.”

I had expected the fee for her services to be substantially higher
with the following she had.
I did the math and decided $60.0
0 an hour wasn’
t too shabby. Passing her a twenty I shook her hand as she said, “Come back whenever you need me.”

“Thank you. I will.”

Weaving my way through the crowded waiting room
,
I thought, p
lease? Just throw your hand up and don't smile. Nope, the bad breathed wonder removed his toothpick, which was in dire need of a replacement, long enough to flash a negative wattage smile.