Bell , Book and Candle

By DocPaul

Chapter Five:  Aberrant behavior…

“Mud.”

Putting down his notes, the man looked over at his patient with exasperation. “Be serious.”

“I am.”

“Michael Guerin.”

“Mud.”

Jake sighed. “Maria, try cooperating.”

Maria sat up on her elbows and looked at her psychologist. “I am. He makes me think of mud. A total quagmire. Give me something else.”

“Wax.”

“Candles.”

“Control.”

“Illusion.”

“Stranger.”

“Dangerous.”

“Tess.”

“Slut.” Maria’s voice lifted in amusement. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

“Try.” Jake made a mark on his paper. “Mother.”

“Father,” said Maria quietly.

“ Chicago .”

Maria was silent.

“Maria, Chicago.”

“Horror.”

Jake sighed. “You want to stop?”

“Am I cured?” she asked with hope in her voice.

Jake laughed and indicated for her to sit up. “Let’s can the word association. Maybe we could try talking?”

“Nothing to say. I’m suffering a brain tumor.”

“You don’t have a brain tumor.”

Maria sat up and stared at Jake. “How can you know? MRI…or maybe a CAT scan? That would tell us definitely.”

“Maria,” said Jake with a hint of exasperation. “I’m not ordering an MRI or a CAT scan. You’re not sick.”

“Not sick?” Maria stands and begins pacing the room, rearranging objects in the office. “Twice. I had a total loss of free will twice! That sounds pretty scary to me.”

“I can imagine.”

Maria puffed out loudly. Sitting down again, she looked at the man. “What does that mean?”

Jake leaned forward and took her hands in his. “You spent your entire early life in a nice safe controlled environment. Loved. Adored. Cherished. Safe. When that was ripped away, you floundered a little.” Maria’s brow went up at that. A little? She had been a mess. “Control is important to you. You still order your environment. Your candles. The glass. All of it, is you ordering molecules from chaos to control, bending them to your will…your concept of the world, beauty and reality.”

“I’m not the same person. She died.”

“No. She’s been in hiding for the last three years. You’ve been letting her out again. That’s good. I don’t think she’ll ever come completely back, but you are finding limits to how safe you can feel, letting your old self live. Comfort zones are good.”

“So this…temporary....and you have to tell me it’s temporary…insanity, is what? My old self re-emerging?”

Jake bent his head, and shook it. “No. She isn’t a separate entity, Maria. She is you. You are all those things inside you, good and bad. Don’t think that this recent behavior is aberrant.”

Maria threw herself back on the sofa in despair. “You’re not helping. This isn’t helping. There is something wrong with me, I’m telling you! This is too bizarre.”

“Maybe you just have an inexplicable attraction to this man? Did you consider that?”

“No.” Maria breathed deeply, trying to forestall an anxiety attack. Jake calmly handed her a paper bag. “For the love of Pete! The man hands out prenuptial agreements as love tokens! He doesn’t even care to know the woman he’s engaged to! How can I find that in the least bit attractive?”

Maria got up and paced the room again, wringing the paper bag in her hands. “He’s argumentative. He’s arrogant. He’s an asshole!” Maria stopped realizing what she was doing. “Dammit! Now I’m using A’s! This is your fault!”

Jake laughed. “He sounds like your equal.”

“Me?” Maria laughed in a derisive snort. “I’m a sweetie pie! Even tempered. Unassuming. Gentle. Little old me?”

Jake hid a smile at her descriptions of herself. In the past four years that he had been treating her, she had been the most argumentative and opinionated patient he had ever had. Anxiety attacks aside, she was completely balanced, or more balanced than anyone would’ve expected.

“Maybe your heart sees something in this man that your brain has yet to acknowledge.”

Maria grabbed her bag. “Are we finished?”

“Yes. You’re fine.” Maria snorted. “Really, Maria. Take a stand on what you want, how comfortable you are, and maybe honestly ask yourself exactly what is happening to you with this man. It doesn’t have to be scary. Your heart was badly broken. Maybe it’s waking up to the possibility of love again.”

Maria blanched. “It’s not love! At best it’s lust. Blind lust. Don’t confuse the two. I don’t.” She put her jacket on and shoved her hair back from her face. “Love? Why would I want anything to do with that destructive emotion? What has love ever given me? More pain than I can bear? A life that was nothing but a fantasy? There is no love. There is no safe. I just want to live in the calm.”

“Maria…”

“I’m okay.” Maria looked back at him from the door. “I’ve survived before. I’ll survive again.”

“Maybe it’s time to do more than survive. Maybe it’s time to believe in love again.”

Maria stood staring at the door, refusing to turn back to him. “I believe in love. I know its power. I know its destruction. I know that when it becomes an obsession, it can do more harm than hate.” Maria leaned her forehead against the closed door for a moment. “Obsession,” she said in a horrified whispery voice. “That’s it. He feels like an obsession to me. I can feel myself throwing myself away. My control and my sense of being safe is let go, all for the lure and desire to touch him. Taste him. A stranger. How can this be happening? And why him?”

“Maybe it was time.”

Maria turned back to Jake. “Why aren’t you more concerned? I’m terrified. What if he’s the one? My obsession. What if I kill him?” Maria didn’t let Jake answer. She left, her shoulders hunched and dejected.

Tess stood up from her chair when Maria came out of the back offices. “Well? What did he say?”

Maria shook her head, avoiding Tess’s stare, but not before Tess saw the glitter of tears in Maria’s eyes.

“Maria?”

“I’m so fucked.”

~~~

“Ouch!” Max limped a little to the side. The back of his left leg was burning. Hopping on one foot he leaned on a hand against the wall. “Michael! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What?”

Max shook his head at Michael’s confused look. Not good. The man wasn’t paying attention to reality, but rather was playing the racquetball game like he was exercising demons from his very soul.

“I’m black and blue from your abuse. That’s it for me today.” Max grabbed his racquet and the ball and opened the small door to duck through to the outside observation area.

Michael followed, grabbing a towel to wipe himself down. “I’m sorry. Let me buy you a drink in the bar after we shower.”

“Fine. I was meeting Isabel for dinner in the club anyway.”

“Isabel? She’s in town? When?”

“Last night. Descended on me and Liz. Guess she’s relocating to San Francisco . She decided it was time to come home.”

“Why is she staying with you? Why not your parents’ place?”

Max laughed. “You know my parents. They’d smother her with love, heap food on her plate, and literally fawn over her until she felt hysterical.”

Michael shrugged. Ironically, the Evans kids had too much attention and love growing up, to the point that they were spoiled and overindulged. And he had had too little. He complained. They complained. Was anyone ever satisfied with what they had been given? Maybe this idea of having kids was a bad one. Maybe it was destined to fail.

“Isabel got a cable network cooking show. The local Public Broadcast Station is sponsoring her to cook San Francisco cuisine and specialties for the Pacific Rim .”

“That’s great.” Michael said absentmindedly. He barely remembered Isabel. She went through school behind them all by two years, and left San Francisco to go to college in Texas . She stayed there after she graduated, which surprised Max and the others. Isabel Evans had always been a quiet, shy…unassuming creature. No one was surprised that she made cooking her profession. All her young life, she had been a little on the round side, finding food too delightful to pass up.

Michael took his bath stuff and headed for the showers. Max followed him quickly. As they washed down, Max kept a running tally of his bruises.

“Is there one on my ass?”

Michael kept showering. “I am not looking at your naked ass.”

“It’s your fault! You should at least check out the damage.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “You’ve got a fiancée. Let Liz check out your ass when you get home.”

“Can’t. She picked up a second shift. The main newsroom needed an onsite researcher, so she applied.” Max frowned. “It’s stupid. She’s taking a leave of absence soon. Why take a new job now?”

Michael shrugged. He barely had time to question the motivations behind the women who had been his fiancées in his life; he sure as hell wasn’t going to waste time thinking about Liz Parker. Michael listened to Max rant and rave about everything, barely registering what he was saying. They were dressing when Alex entered the dressing room in a pair of swim trunks, still wet.

“Oh, the San Francisco Trio, together again. Hide your women!” Looking at Max, Alex shrugged. “Okay, make that the Charmingly Deadly Duo. Evans is a dud.”

Michael smirked. “Alex. What the hell happened to your body?”

Alex looked down and grimaced. There were marks everywhere. His neck had been mauled too. “No clue. Went to the Pearl Jam after-party. It was a riot, but I got a little trashed. I think my body was abused while I was under the influence.”

Michael’s brow went up. “Do you even know the sex of said abuser?”

Alex was rutting through his locker for soap and a dry towel. “Not male. Or at least I don’t think so. A certain part of my anatomy still seems to be in pristine order.”

Max grimaced. “Your lifestyle is dangerous. How do you know that you weren’t engaged in homosexual sex? Just because you can sit down comfortably?”

“You know homosexual sex isn’t the only way to acquire disease. I could be banging a intravenous drug user, or someone who does someone that did someone…” Alex gave it up. After all, this was San Francisco . AIDS and disease were a major concern and topic since the 80’s. “I think it was the two women I woke up with that clued me in, but yeah, you’re right, I could have been walking on a steep slope last night. I swear one of those Bettys slipped me a Mickey. Next time, I’ll take a cameraman with me. Get souvenirs.”

Michael laughed. “Thought that was what all those bite marks are. Battle scars. War crimes.” Alex laughed and went to shower off the chlorine.

“Don’t encourage him, Michael.”

“Don’t be a prude. Alex is careful. You know most of his crap is just that. Crap. He knows too many people dying of AIDS or who are HIV positive, so don’t assume his carefree attitude is the same as a careless attitude.”

Max wasn’t that sure about Alex and his loose lifestyle. “We’re twenty-seven. How long can he possibly play this fast and loose? You’re his best friend. Maybe you should talk to him.”

Michael grabbed his bag, and punched Max on the shoulder. “C’mon. I owe you a drink for bruising your delicate skin. Leave Alex alone. He’ll find whatever he’s looking for or avoiding someday. Just because you’re expecting a baby, and are gonna be tied down with the old ball and chain for the rest of your natural life in short order, doesn’t mean all your friends have to suffer the same consequences.”

Max made a sound of disgust. “Thus sayeth the man who proposes to every woman he sleeps with.”

“Not every one. I was Alex’s roommate in college. My bed had as many notches as his.”

Max rolled his eyes. Maybe Michael was right. Maybe he was jealous. He had had one girlfriend in his entire life. Liz. She was the sum total of his sexual experience. Sometimes he mused about what he had missed in settling down with the same girl from high school. There had been a few times where  he had strayed, but not far. He was too busy for that. Cheating took too much energy, and finding and working on a new relationship would’ve been equally time consuming. Liz had been his girlfriend since they were sixteen. They knew each other. No surprises. Unless you counted unexpected parenthood.

Max was on his second martini by the time Alex joined them. Michael was telling Max about his last encounter with Maria DeLuca, and Alex ordered more drinks. “So this is the blonde babe that had your shirt open, and your shorts all tied in knots?”

Michael made an obscene gesture at Alex’s description. “I wouldn’t describe it quite like that.”

Alex reached over and stole the olive from Max’s glass, winking at a small group of girls passing their table. “Okay, then describe it any way you want. Considered me intrigued.” Michael noticed Alex making eye contact with the girls and sighed. Alex was always that way…charming to women. Strange as it seemed, he had a long lean body, and was sort of geekish, but women didn’t seem to mind that about Alex. They found it endearing. He was a babe magnet, and no one really knew why, not even Alex.

“I can’t. There’s this….” Michael ran his hands through his hair. “I see her, I don’t see anything else. It’s like this red haze covers my sight. All I can see is her eyes. Her mouth. Those hands. Her legs….damn!”

“Red hot lust! Wow, so this last time you were nekid, right?”

“Naked? No! Slightly undressed, but not naked.” Michael frowned in his beer. “Then her roommate came in and interrupted us.”

“Shit, in her room?”

Michael hated Alex. He was such a gossip hound. Nothing he told the man was going to stay between them. Alex didn’t even understand the word discreet. “No! Not her room. On the stairs. We never made it up the stairs.”

“Wicked.” Max frowned at Alex. He was going to pester Michael to the point that they would never hear the end of the story.

“Shut up, Alex.” Max nodded for Michael to continue, groaning when he noticed his sister coming through the door searching the room for him. Great. Fat mouth Alex. Now he might miss the end of the story. “So what did you do? What did she say?”

“What did she say?” Michael irritation was obvious, as he scratched his eyebrow. “She didn’t say anything. She pushed me aside, and scrambled up the stairs, practically hysterical. Her roommate glared at me and told me to get out.”

“You left? Just like that?” Alex couldn’t believe it.

“No, I ran! What the hell was I supposed to do? You should see her friend! A little thing. Her blue eyes were all fiery. I swear she was going to go get a gun or something. She made me feel like a rapist.”

Max nodded to his sister who finally spotted him. “Least tell me you called her later?”

“Why?” Both Max and Alex groaned, neither of them noticing the woman now standing at their table. “What? Of course I called! That little petty dictator hung up on me and refused to let me talk to Maria.”

“Maria,” said Isabel Evans. “Is that your latest fiancée?”

“Isabel!” Alex stood up and quickly went to hold out a chair for her. “How are you, kid?” Isabel’s eyebrow went up at the nickname. “Max didn’t tell me you were visiting.”

“I’m not. I’m moving back to San Francisco .”

“Really?”

Max frowned at Alex’s interest. Inserting himself between his sister and Alex, he smiled at Isabel. “Hey.” Kissing her cheek, he firmly took her arm. “I was waiting for you with the guys.” Max gave Alex a warning glare. “Should we go eat?”

“Of course.” Isabel shyly looked at Michael and Alex, smiling slightly. “It was nice seeing you both again.”

“Likewise,” said Alex with a twinkle in his eyes, enjoying the added glare from Max. He kicked Michael when he didn’t say anything.

“Oh, what? Right. Nice seeing you.”

“She already left, ignoramus.”

“She looks different somehow.”

Alex laughed at the every unobservant Michael. “Jesus, G. She shed about a hundred pounds of puppy fat. Even you must notice that. Now she looks…” Alex frowned. “Well, honestly it’s hard to say what she looks like in those baggy clothes, and all those layers, but the face is sound.”

“She has tits.”

“Oh, you would notice that.” Alex laughed. “So this Maria person, what about her tits?”

“They’re perfect.” Michael suddenly had an idiotic grin on his face. “They’re small, perfectly formed and they fit nicely in my hand.”

“Whoa! Now I am concerned. You’re a tit man. You love them large and swinging.”

“What?” Michael’s faced screwed into a frown. Half of what Alex was saying wasn’t getting through his own thoughts. “Did you just say I have tits? Are you accusing me of having man tits?”

“A little exercise will take care of them. Them and that noticeable chub around the waist.”

Michael swore at the teasing light in his friend’s eyes, and the obvious humor. “I’m going to beat the crap out of you, Alex.” Alex laughed, but his laughter subsided when he noticed that Michael was off in his own private thoughts again. This Maria DeLuca thing was beginning to look serious. As Michael continued to frolic in Michael Land with the birds and bees, Alex sat back to observe Max and his sister. Isabel Evans. Her hair was still that beautiful long blonde mane, and her face had slimmed down allowing a person to actually see its nice lines. She was gorgeous. He somehow never noticed that before.

“What color were Isabel’s eyes? Did you notice?”

Michael frowned. Damn Alex was irritating. Eyes? “Who’s? Eyes? Oh, green. A nice beautiful green.” Alex frowned. He could’ve sworn they were brown.

~~~

“Hi.” Tess smiled at the woman behind the desk, in a friendly unassuming manner. “I need to talk to Michael Guerin.”

“Do you have an appointment?” Kathleen asked politely. She waited, but she already knew. She made Michael’s daily itinerary. This woman wasn’t on it.

“No.” Tess refused to be turned back. “It’s regarding a personal matter.”

Kathleen’s eyes narrowed. “This isn’t a paternity suit is it?”

The horror in the blonde’s eyes was evident. Kathleen breathed in a sigh of relief. Since Michael’s business took off, and his net worth wealth made him one of the wealthiest men in the city, he was a target. Over a year ago, a local magazine placed him as one of the city’s most eligible bachelors. It had been a neverending nightmare since. Old girlfriends, pretend lovers, and mere acquaintances were suddenly on his doorstep. Luckily Michael really didn’t pay much attention to most people, and most of them slipped beneath his radar. Kathleen couldn’t say the same. As his personal assistant and secretary, she and a group of lawyers headed by Max Evans took care of numerous paternity claims.

“Oh God! It’s worse than I thought!” Tess’s color receded. She was doing the right thing. After hearing that, she knew she was. “No. It’s about him harassing my roommate. Bringing her lavender shampoo and conditioner. Kissing her senseless, nearly going further than that in public. His actions are reprehensible.”

“Your roommate?” The mention of lavender had caught Kathleen’s interest. She grabbed a pad of paper. “And she would be...?”

“Maria DeLuca, of the…”

“Bell, Book and Candle shop! I know it. I know Maria!” Kathleen was secretly pleased. So that was the mysterious green-eyed nymph who had Michael chasing his own tail. About time. “I sent Michael there to get a gift basket.”

“Then all this mess is your fault!”

“Mess? What mess?”

Tess frowned at the woman whose back was suddenly stiff and unyielding. Guess the kissing bandit boob had a loyal guardian here. A champion. Who would’ve thought?

“Look, may I see him or not?”

Kathleen’s eyes narrowed in thought, and she quickly smiled politely. “Well, you’re in luck. He’s in the office. Normally he’s on the sites. One moment please, um…Ms?”

“Hardy. Tess Hardy.”

Kathleen nodded politely and went to talk to Michael. Tapping on his door, she put her head in. He was bent over some blueprints frowning and making marks on a piece of paper. “Michael?”

“What?” He growled. Kathleen smiled fondly. Her boy.

“There’s a young woman here about a Maria DeLuca.” Kathleen smiled pleased when she noted his reaction. Gotcha.

Michael missed most of what Kathleen was saying, but the name Maria caught his attention. “Maria? She’s here?” He straightened, his back protesting the change in position. He hadn’t realized that he had been stooping over so long. “Send her in.” Michael sat down, and then quickly stood up again. Maria. She came to see him? It was…

Not her.

“You!” Michael said to the snooty little blonde from the other night.

“Me.”

Michael gave a disappointed sigh. The little yapping pup. Damn. “What do ya want?” His voice was cold and nasty. He wasn’t going to forget her interrupting act from the other night when another thought hit him. “Maria? Is she okay?”

“No, she isn’t okay! Listen,” said Tess heatedly. “I don’t know what your damage is, or who you think you are, but I am giving you fair warning right here, right now. Stay. Away. Get me?”

“From Maria?”

“From the planet Earth! Yes, from Maria. You’re making her a neurotic mess. And…”

“Neurotic mess? You’re blaming that on me? I’d say she was already whacked when I laid eyes on her.”

“Take that back! You don’t even know her.” Tess’s voice quieted. “I will get a restraining order if I have to. I want you to leave her alone. Back off. She doesn’t need the kind of trouble you will be.”

“Trouble?” What the frick was this hell kitten talking about? “What kind of trouble could I be?”

“Ask all those women suing you for paternity.” Tess got real close to him, and despite having to look up his tall frame, she didn’t back down. Poking her finger in his chest, she flashed violent blue eyes at him. “Don’t mess with me! Stay away.”

Michael sneered at her. “Make me, half pint. Just because you’re an obvious lesbian with a mouthful of lust for your roommate, don’t take it out on me.” Michael leaned down in her face. “May the best man win!” His voice couldn’t be more insulting if he tried.

Okay, so he should’ve seen it coming. Kathleen who was standing at the door watching the battle in interest, saw it coming. She actually waved him off, but it was too late. Tess’s knee firmly embedded itself deep in his groin. A total high kick. Score. Full conversion. Six points.

“Arghhhh!” Michael hit the floor hard, and rolled to the side. He couldn’t even find the moan lodged in his throat. Son-of-a-bitch!

Tess calmly squatted down next to his tortured figure. “Stay away. Physical therapist. I know more ways to torture the human body than you can even imagine. Consider yourself warned.”

She swept past a horrified Kathleen with barely a twitch. Tess glanced at her watch on the way down the elevator. Oh damn. She was late for class.