Among the Ducklings (9 page)

The
building had two conference rooms and the meeting was held in the larger one,
which was adjacent to Phil's office suite. After the meeting, Phil went
straight to his office.
 
As he passed by
his secretary's desk, Myra stopped him and said, “Stacy called.”

Myra knew about Stacy.
 
Myra had been with Phil's firm before Phil ever met Stacy.
  
During her years at the firm, Myra had seen
and talked to Stacy on several occasions, including at the many office and
holiday parties that Phil's company had thrown.

“What did
she say?” Phil asked.

“She left a
number for you to call her.”

“Did she
say why?”

“No, Boss.”

“Did she
say anything else?”

“Stacy
asked me how you were doing and I said that you had begun wearing these ugly
medical boots. That's all.”
 

Myra's last
statement caused Phil to smile.

“I didn't
know that they were supposed to be fashionable. Remind me to tell the doctor to
change the color for you,” Phil said as he opened the door to his office.

“Boss?
One last thing,” Myra interrupted.

“Yes. What
is it?” Phil asked, turning slightly to look at her.

“Stacy
asked me not to tell you.”

 
“Tell me what?”

“She is
coming to Miami and wanted me to help her with something.”

“Did she
say why?”

“No.”

“Great,”
Phil mumbled as he entered his office.

Afterwards,
Phil then spent the whole morning preparing and reviewing final expert reports
that he and his staff had prepared for some of the law firms in town.
 
By the time that Phil finished his work, it
was early afternoon.
 
He was getting
ready to leave, when his secretary buzzed him.

“You have a
call, boss.”

“Who is
it?”

“It's
Stacy.
 
She is on the other line.”

“OK, put
her through,” Phil said, wondering what she wanted.

“Yes,
Boss.”

A few
seconds later, Stacy's voice came through on the phone. It was as jovial as
Phil remembered it.

“Michelle
told me about your accident. I wanted to know how you were doing,” Stacy
said.
 
She was talking as if she had
never left him and as if the heartbreak and pain that he had suffered never
happened.

“Well, I'm
fine.
You?”

“I am
OK.
 
Why didn't you return my calls? I
left several messages for you at home on your answering machine,” Stacy asked.

“I was
going to,” Phil lied. “I have been very busy at work and with therapy.”

“I also
emailed you. But you never responded,” Stacy said.

“I didn't
get your email. It might have been my spam filter,” Phil answered. “But I did
receive something from a Stacy Marshall last week. I didn’t know who it was, so
I deleted it.” It was a second lie.
 
In
fact, Phil had read in some magazine a few years ago that Stacy was briefly
married to an actor whose last name was Marshall, and that she had kept his
last name after the divorce.
  
 

“That was
me.
 
My last name is Marshall now.”

“Congratulations,
Stacy.
 
It's been about three years since
I've heard from you. What do you want from me now?”

“I admit
that I made mistakes and I feel bad about it.
 
That doesn't mean I don't care about what happens to you,” she
replied.

“No need to
worry about me. I'm fine,” Phil said before adding, “Someone is waiting
for me. I have to go.”

“Wait,” he
heard Stacy say as he hung up.

It was
unlike Phil to hang up on someone, and he regretted it as soon as he realized
what he had done. He made a mental note to apologize to Stacy if they ever
talked again. But he hoped they never would.

Stacy
looked at her
Iphone
and wondered if Phil had heard
her before he hung up. She had so much to tell him and wondered if he would
ever give her the chance to explain.
 
Did
she have any regrets for what she did to him? Absolutely, after all, she was in
love with him when she left.
 
Did she
have any remorse?
Not at all.
 
Love is not everything.
 
When she left Miami, she was a model hoping
to get a shot at fame. When she finally found fame as a model, with the help of
her director/lover, she was able to get into acting, which had led to movie
production. Thinking back now, leaving Phil was the right career move. Success
doesn't have any place for remorse.

Prior to
calling Phil, Stacy had spent the whole morning reading a screenplay for a
television movie that she was going to produce.
 
Now that she had spoken to Phil, she realized even more that she missed
something in her life.
  
Since Phil, she
had had her share of lovers.
 
But she was
always suspicious about their true motives, and for good reason. Sometimes she
discovered they were with her for money, or for a glossy picture with her on
the red carpet, or simply for connections.
 
With Phil, she knew she was loved for herself.
 
She missed the kind of love that Phil gave
her. Phil deeply loved her when she didn’t have any money and wasn’t famous.
Since Phil, she had never found that kind of love again.

She had a plan to get Phil back.
  
When
the voice came from the airport's speakers announcing that boarding had started
for her long flight to Miami, she smiled. She knew that her plan was already in
motion.

Chapter
Seven

Isabel's therapy
sessions consisted mostly of two hours of daily grueling exercises, which her
therapists call “
locomotor
training”.
 
The training consisted of Isabel's body being
suspended in a harness over a treadmill, while the therapists helped her move
her legs. Now that she was back in her wheelchair this afternoon, she felt
exhausted. She was only by the lake for few minutes when Phil came.
 
She was so absorbed by the view of the
ducklings playing in the water, that she didn’t hear him come.

“Beautiful
sight, isn't it?” Phil said as he sat on the bench.

“Yes, it
is,” Isabel replied.
 
She was shaking
inside.
 
Why did she have to feel that
way every time she was around him? She asked herself.
 
She wasn't a teenager anymore.

“After you left
yesterday, I asked your aunt when you were going to be here. I'm sorry about
that,” Phil said.
 
Both of them were
talking while still watching the ducks in the water.
 

“Are you?”
Isabel asked, turning her head to look at Phil. Sensing Isabel's stare, Phil
turned.
These eyes can melt a glacier
,
Phil thought before replying.

“I didn't have any choice. I wanted to see you
again. You seemed upset when you left yesterday.”

As Phil spoke, Isabel kept
reminding herself that she was engaged to be married and not to let the
feelings she had for Phil interfere with her relationship with Richard. “Why did
you want to see me again?.”

“Isn't it
obvious?
 
Since I met you, it's like a
spell.
 
I can't get you out of my mind
and feel like a happy kid at the prospect of seeing you again,” Phil said,
surprising even himself for being so open with her about his feelings.

“Why are
you doing this?”

“What am I
doing?” Phil asked, incredulous at the question.

“You've
only known me for just a couple of weeks and now you are telling me about your
feelings for me. How do you think I should respond?”

“I know
it's very soon.
 
I don't go around
falling for women I just met. But that's what happened to me with you and I was
hoping that you would agree to see me again,” Phil said. When he had met Stacy,
he could not help but to admire Stacy's body molding jeans, her shapely legs.
With Isabel, it wasn't about her
legs,
it wasn't even
about Isabel's pretty face. Beauty fades.
 
It was about everything about her.

It
took a few seconds for Isabel to respond, which to Phil seemed an eternity.
When Isabel responded, it was as if Phil had been punched in the stomach.

“I am sorry
to disappoint you.
 
I am engaged to be
married to a wonderful man.
 
You and I
have known each other only for a short period, while I've been with Richard for
years.
 
I hope you get over your feelings
for me, but I can't see you again.”
 
Isabel tried to sound as icy as possible and was hoping that Phil would
not be able to read through her. She wanted to see Phil, and dreamed about
being in Phil’s arms.
 
However, that
would not be fair to Richard.
 
When she
met Richard, there was no denying her attraction to him.
 
However, the way she felt about Phil was
different.
 
It was more than a simple
physical attraction. She wanted to be with Phil, wanted to share breakfast,
lunch and dinner with him. But although she wanted to share her life with Phil,
she knew that would not be fair to Richard.
 
She never broke her promises.

“But you
have been engaged for three years. That tells me that neither of you is sure.
Me, I would have married you on the spot,” Phil insisted.

“Please
don't read anything into my relationship with Richard. You don't even know
him.”

“Isabel,
all I am asking is for a chance to show you that we are made for each other. I
am sure that you have feelings for me too,” Phil implored.

“It's very
arrogant of you to tell me how I feel,” Isabel quipped. “I don't know what made
you think that.
 
I only have feelings for
Richard,” Isabel lied.
Keep your
promises to Richard
.
Fight
your feelings
for Phil
.

“I was
hoping that you would give me a chance,” Phil finally said.

“Well, you
were wrong. I don't think we should talk to each other again.”

“Well it
looks like I've taken too much of your time,” a resigned Phil said. He felt
that he was starring in a bad romance movie. In a romance movie, there was
always one person that was left out.
The character that the
star of the movie didn't love or left for his or her real love.
Phil felt
he was such a character and wanted get away as soon as possible.
 

Phil got up and Isabel said, “Good Bye Phil.”

As
Phil was leaving, tears flowed down Isabel's cheeks. She was devastated. She
remembered the story told at church of a big flood and the drowning person
declining all help, including a boat, in the belief that she would be saved by
God. In the story, the person died only to find out in the afterlife that the
help that she declined came from God.
 
Had Isabel just thrown out her only chance of happiness? Had she refused
the lifeline of love?
 
She would never
know, because Phil had already left the building.

##

It was late
in the evening when Phil finally reached home, having stopped at the nearby bar
for some shots of whiskey.
 
“Whoever said
that alcohol lessened someone's pain was lying,” he said to himself.
 
He was still crushed when he left the
bar.
 
Isabel was right. It was arrogant
of him to think he had a chance at happiness with her. He wondered what he would
do if he came across her and Richard at the Center.
 
Would Richard laugh at him? He had no doubt
that Isabel would tell him. Then in a flash, he knew what he needed to do. He
made a decision that he thought would be best for all three of them.

##

After
Phil's departure, Isabel went to see her aunt.
 
As she entered Marcia's office, Marcia, who was reading some kind of
medical book, looked up with alarm and said, “You look a mess Isabel.
 
Have you been crying?”

Ignoring the question, Isabel said, “I just
wanted to talk to you about your niece.”

“You mean,
your sister,” Marcia reminded her. She knew that something must have happened between
Isabel and Rebecca for Isabel to refer her sister like this.

“If you say
so.”

“So what's
wrong with Rebecca? Is she OK?” Marcia asked.
 
Isabel could read the concern on her aunt's face.