Opposites Attract E9

“Before we start, let me hold your car key, please…. Thanks. I apologize for my lack of control this afternoon. Don’t view me as that person. Let’s focus on honesty this evening. Be straight with me, no matter how embarrassing the answers may be, and I’ll do the same.”

“I’ll be honest so this arrangement can work. We’ve already talked quite a bit, and it’s rather late. You said things went well with your mother. How about we defer all this extra conversation, and revisit how irresistible you are?”

“It’s flattering that you’re attracted to me. But I need answers to important questions. We can take a walk outside if you can’t control yourself.”

“Okay okay. There’s more privacy, and warmth, in here. Can I ask a question before we begin?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. Please don’t think I’m trying to run everything. Ask any questions you want. I won’t lie to you.”

“It seems like each time we get very close to consummating the deal, there are more objections or questions that delay everything. The last time we were together, you stood half dressed in front of me. I need to know if you’re just a tease?”

“Maybe I’m too inexperienced to know the difference between being a tease and pursuing a man. It was my intent to attract you by prancing around my living room. But think back. You’re the one who put the brakes on our last encounter.

“If that’s your burning question begging for an answer, I have another. When were you going to tell me that your wife died?”

“Oh! You mean Judy?”

“Yes! I mean Judy! Are there other wives?”

“Um. Well, she…. I, I know this looks bad. But I didn’t kill her.”

Grabbing the door handle, as the thumb on her other hand hovers above the key fob panic button, Alyssa reacts, “Wait. What? Are you a murder suspect?”

“No, of course not. Police always suspect the mate. I told you I was in jail for a little while, but not prison.”

“Okay, you’re frightening me. What on earth happened?”

“She’s been missing for five years, and it’s been difficult moving on—to a new relationship, until I met you.”

“By moving on, do you mean concoct a fictitious story about a mistress having your wife’s approval?”

“I’m sorry. It takes seven years before the state presumes her death and I’m no longer married. So you’re still a mistress for a couple more years. The details may have been murky, but the situation is virtually the same.”

“You’ve been lying to me since we met. At this point, not much of what I was going to ask matters anymore. I had questions about an apartment, children, merging our friends, your divorce, and… and none of it matters, because I don’t trust you.”

“It’s good that you’re confronting this now, because a small lie was growing out of proportion. It should be a relief to learn that you’re not sneaking behind anyone’s back. Now we can move forward with a fresh start.”

“Does it seem that our lives center around one thing?”

“That one thing hasn’t happened yet. Besides, we also enjoy good food together.”

While shaking her head, Alyssa replies, “I was hoping my discovery of Judy’s disappearance was a mistake. But your explanation conjures fear and mistrust. You discovered a nearby house with vulnerable women, and probably want to seduce us both.”

“I never said both. It was one or the other. When you chose me, your mother was supposed to be out of the picture, but you keep bringing her up. It seems you enjoy the mystique of being a second woman. I can’t tell whether you prefer me to also pursue Tamara or to have a wife across the street.”

“My mother doesn’t want you, if I want you.”

“Are you saying if you break up with me, she might be willing to take your place?”

“Brad, you and I represent quite a contrast—in age, race, gender, marital status, and honesty. Everything you say now diminishes my feelings for you.”

“Psychologists say, opposites attract. A little bad-boy nature seemed to appeal to you on our first date. What if I say that I love you, Alyssa?”

“We’ve been confusing love with passion. What would psychologists say about your conversations with an absent wife? I’m sorry for my part in stimulating our emotions. With immature infatuation, I believed I was entering into an exciting new relationship. But I was only feeding your desire to get into my pants.”

“Exactly! You were the one feeding my desire. Now you’re changing your mind on a technicality. Didn’t your mother give you permission?”

It’s not as simple as that. She said there are many things to evaluate first. Considering how you’ve been messing with my mind, this seems like a big mistake. You said your wife, who we now know is missing, wants us to have relations. Then wants to meet me afterwards. Who were you going to introduce me to after getting what you wanted?”

“Let’s be clear. It’s what we both want. I probably would have said something like she left me because she couldn’t compete with you. It doesn’t matter, because the goal was for us to be together.”

“This is too strange. Now that your real personality is evident, I’m no longer attracted to you. For all I know, you may have killed Judy and cemented her body in your basement. Let’s just go our separate ways. There’s nothing more to say this evening. Good night.”

“Wait Alyssa! If the police could prove I killed Judy, I’d be in jail. Come home with me. If not tonight, then promise me tomorrow at our special place, right after your mother leaves for work. I’m ready to give you what you’ve wanted from the beginning.”

When Alyssa unlocks the door, Brad grabs her wrist. “Don’t make this difficult. You’ve been trying to seduce me since we met. We’re getting in the back seat. I paid you, so I shouldn’t have to force you.”

“No. Let go of me!” Alyssa reacts with a slap across his face. He releases her, and she exits the vehicle into the cold darkness, tossing his keys on the automobile’s roof.

Then Brad gets out to hurry after her. As they race towards the front door of her house, Alyssa is trying to speed dial her mother, while he’s shouting, “Get back in the car!” When the door swings open, Tamara’s formidable silhouette, baseball bat in hand, casts a shadow on him. Halting the pursuit, with widened eyes, he reacts with the words, “Good night to both you ladies,” while holding up two fingers, indicating peace.

He then rotates his wrist downward, moving his fingers to simulate walking. Turning around, he retreats towards his car while rubbing his sore jaw. In the house, Tamara hurries to embrace Alyssa, who sobs while the adult daughter pours out her heart.

Unfulfilled Desires

The next day, through the morning sun’s glare between the window blinds, Brad watches as neighbors in fitness outfits stretch and walk their dogs. He can’t erase from his mind the look on Tamara’s face when she warned Alyssa about wearing enough clothing around the house.

“She must have a habit of walking by windows dressed scantily. Is it for anyone’s benefit?” he wonders out loud.”

Peering in that direction, he sees Alyssa close her drapes and exit her house wearing a Burger Bun uniform. On her way to work, she walks by his window. Distracted by her phone, Alyssa does not look his way. Brad considers offering her a ride. Then he recalls that she quit her job.

Judy interrupts his window browsing with a voice of dissatisfaction, “You’ve been staring out that window a long time. Can you come into the kitchen, Bradford?”

Realizing his diversion from cooking, Brad hurries to his wife.

Judy continues ranting, “You need to focus. That basement remodeling has been going on for months with no sign of progress. And this food has been sitting out for more than an hour. Are you waiting for it to spoil? I spend hours shopping. But half of what I buy goes in the garbage!

“You’ve been moping around the house and peering through windows ever since you came from that stupid block club meeting. If you’re looking for something, it’s in this kitchen! You need to snap out of it.”

After baiting him into an argument, Brad replies, “Will it hurt you to lift a spatula or percolate a pot of coffee every now and then?”

“You’re the one with all the cooking skills! Who washes and presses your shirts?” Judy snaps back.

Brad stands there biting his lip but cannot resist replying, “I can’t kiss or make love to crisp shirts. You recoil from my every attempt to touch you. As a man, I have intimate needs.” After a somber stare from his wife, she storms away into the rear of the house to watch television. Then she shouts, “I prefer to eat breakfast before lunchtime!

Rushing back to the blinds, Brad sees that Alyssa is now out of view. He pulls out his mobile phone to send a text message inquiring whether she needs a ride. Then he realizes that he hasn’t yet asked for her phone number. His fantasies and realities are overlapping.

To confirm justification for his imaginations, he joins his wife in the bedroom. She rejects his amorous advances, demanding instead that he finish preparing her breakfast.

“Will the excuses ever end? The room is too hot. My hands are too cold. If you don’t have a headache, it’s gas. Perhaps I should get a mistress.”

“The only thing you should get is my breakfast. The delay is giving me a headache!” she quips.

After returning to the kitchen, Brad says to his wife who is out of audible distance, “Sometimes, I wish you were missing….” While diced onions and bell peppers sauté, he cracks eggs for a breakfast frittata and shouts, “I think I’ll fire up the wok this afternoon to prepare Chinese food!”

After feeding his wife, Brad visits the basement to admire the depth of a hole he’s been digging, then covers it with a tarp. Later in the day, after seeing Alyssa return from work, Brad packs his signature Asian cuisine and hurries across the street.

Do you consider any of the parental advice practical? Throughout this story, variations of the words “imagine,” “unreal,” and “fantasy” are used. Many people obsess over having a different life. Marital problems or fantasies are common psychotherapy topics.

The End

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