|--Memory: TYLER--|
‘’Sir?’’ whispered my secretary’s voice from the crack in the door to my office.
‘’Yes, Tiffany?’’ I answered, annoyed- nothing new there.
‘’Your plane tickets.’’ She said simply, quickly walking in, placing them on my desk and leaving.
I took the plane tickets and smiled. Finally, they were here.
I quickly finished my paperwork and left the office. I was early, but it didn’t matter. The tickets had arrived. I stopped by a florist and grabbed a bouquet of irises for my beautiful wife, Josie and a single rainbow coloured rose for Felicia my four year old daughter.
A thought sprung into my mind and I had to check the tickets for the information: one adult, one child. I sighed realizing that I’d have to stay back a few days until the third ticket came in. I would have to let my wife and daughter leave and fare on their own so far away. It wasn’t the safest solution, but staying here wasn’t safe either. The big heads were slowly coming onto me. I knew they had realized that a huge chunk of their cash had disappeared. I also knew that they knew it was someone close to them. It was just a matter of days before they discovered it was me.
I unlocked the front door and let myself in. I spoke up to let my wife know of my arrival but I was met with silence in return. I kicked off my shoes and walking into the house, checking every room as I went by them. Every room was empty. I climbed the stairs to the second floor and could hear music coming from our bedroom. I smiled to myself thinking of my wife, alone, in the bedroom, with music loud enough to be heard. A dirty thought crossed my mind and I stopped by Felicia’s room quickly to put the rose on her bed.
I sneaked back into the hallway in silence and waited at the bedroom door for a moment. I wasn’t crazy, my wife was enjoying herself. I grinned wildly and opened the door wide, immediately placing the bouquet of irises in my view.
‘’Guess what finally came, Josie! Tickets to freedom for you and Felicia!’’ I declared and lowered the bouquet to smile at her.
Except, I didn’t smile and I didn’t look at her. I stared directly into the eyes of a naked stranger who was having sex with MY wife. He had the guts to smirk and kept pounding her even as she tried to twist out from under him. I dropped the bouquet, rushed forward and grabbed the man’s hair, pulling him off of her. I pinned him to the wall and started throwing punches into his stomach and in his face. All the while I could hear myself calling him every possible name and screaming every insult. Josie was still naked on the bed, crying and screaming for me to stop. When I finally did stop, the man stumbled away, grabbed his clothes and left while putting his pants on and fighting the dizziness.
‘’Seriously, Josie? THIS is how you thank me for the life I’ve been giving you?’’ I turned to my wife, all anger gone- I was just numb by now.
‘’Tyler, this is ridiculous! You have to wake up and face reality!’’ She pulled on her robe and came to stand in front of me. ‘’We’ve been divorced for six months!’’
‘’No, that’s not true. We over came our difficulties, Josie.’’ I whispered, frowning.
Why was she denying me?
‘’This is your last warning; get out of my life!’’ she screamed and pushed me out the bedroom and into the hallway.
Before she could close the door her eyes turned in the direction of Felicia’s room. She walked past me and entered her room.
‘’For gods sake, Tyler, get some help…’’ she picked up the rainbow rose from our daughter’s bed and held it to her chest. ‘’You have to stop living in the past. Its not healthy for you or anyone involved.’’
‘’Where is she?’’ I finally asked, realizing that Josie wouldn’t have left our daughter alone while she had sex with another man.
She turned to face me, her hands falling to her sides helplessly but her fingers held on tightly to the thorn-less stem of the rose. ‘’Tyler…’’ she sighed and looked around the bedroom. She didn’t even bother trying to hide the tears or hold them in.
I walked closer to her and wrapped my arms around her.
‘’You have to snap back to reality because this is the LAST time I’m going to accept that you burst into my home like this. It’s the LAST time I explain this to you. You and I are done. We’ve been divorced for six months already.’’ She pulled away from me and wiped her eyes. ‘’As for Felicia… she’s gone. The cancer killed her a year ago.’’
I sat in the lobby of the airport with my single satchel at my feet. Wake up; she said. Snap back to reality; she said. We’re done. Felicia perished. Might as well say my life is finished. My wife left me, my daughter is dead and I’m wanted dead by my boss. All I have left is his fortune which has to disappear quickly.
The plane ticket for the child feels heavy in my fingers. With a final sigh I stand up and walk to the counter.
‘’I’d like to have this ticket refunded please.’’ I present the child ticket to the attendant.
‘’I’m sorry sir, I cannot refund this ticket.’’ She hands it back to me.
‘’What can I do with this ticket then? My d—the child that was supposed to board with me is… gone.’’ I whisper, unable to tell her that my wife dumped me and my daughter died.
‘’You have a ticket, Sir?’’ I nod in answer. ‘’Is it a lower class ticket?’’ Once again I answer with a simple nod. ‘’Then what I can offer you is to combine them into a higher class ticket.’’ For the third time, I nod and hand her the two tickets.
‘’I’d like a room, please…’’ whispered a gentle, young woman who stood in front of me in the lobby.
The receptionist gave the woman the total price for the room and the young woman started to dig through her purse. She placed bills on the counter but from the looks of it, she would never complete the bill. I stepped up and placed the complete sum on the counter for her.
‘’Thank you,’’ she smiled kindly at me before taking her keys and leaving with her single satchel.
I presented the same amount again to the receptionist and was quickly able to leave with my own room keys. Whether intentional or coincidental, I was neighbour to the black-haired woman from the front desk. I examined her as I slowly made my way down the corridor to the door next to hers. I passed behind her and stopped at my door, unlocked it and opened the door. I was just about to step inside when she let herself fall forward slightly enough to press her forehead to the wooden door.
‘’Are you okay, ma’am?’’ I asked, still holding onto the doorknob to my room.
‘’Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks again for paying for the room.’’ She turned her head to look at me but kept her head against the door.
‘’Hum, actually, I’m guessing if you barely have cash for a room, you most likely have even less for food?’’ I asked kindly.
‘’Sounds about right.’’ She pulled her head up and unlocked her door, pushing it open.
‘’Would it be awkward if I offered to pay for your supper tonight?’’ I offered, suddenly shy.
The smile she aimed my way removed all of the awkwardness. ‘’I’d be pleased to accept your invitation. What is your name?’’
‘’I’m Tyler, and yourself?’’
She bit her lip and hesitated for a moment. ‘’My name is Amy.’’
From that day on, Amy was constantly by my side. We started off by finding a small apartment in town as room mates but after a few weeks, we ended up emptying one of the rooms and sharing the other. We had both understood in the early days of our relationship that questioning the other’s past was a bad idea. I still had Josie on my mind every day even though the Blind Ocean separated us now.
‘’Hey babe!’’ I yelled across the apartment.
‘’What?’’ Amy yelled back.
‘’Would you like to travel?’’ I asked, softening my tone. She had to accept. They had found me and the man from the bar last night was offering me the best solution ever; a train game.
‘’Depends. Where would we go?’’ she asked me.
‘’Where the dice tell us to go.’’ I grinned and threw a set of dice at her.
I never expected my new girlfriend to know the man from the bar. I never expected to have to face the possibility of losing another woman. But, there it was, staring right in front of me the moment we arrived at the station. Kane and Amy stared at each other with knowledge and something more.
‘’You said I could bring my girlfriend, so Kane, this is Amy.’’ I presented them.
‘’Nice to meet you, A---‘’ he started
‘’Its Veronica.’’
On top of everything, my girlfriend is a liar.