Chapter 4 #2
Elise walked onto today’s set, a beautiful park with lots of trees that swayed in the breeze. Walking paths, a children’s play area, and benches peppered throughout. She sat on a pretty green one. She crossed her legs and kicked the top one. She checked her watch.
Enter Eric, aka Max. He came from the left and walked into camera range. His clothes were disheveled, his hair a mess. “Hey, sorry I’m late.”
“Wifey keep you, lover boy?” Her tone was sassy.
“Don’t be like that.” He sat down. “You knew from the start I had responsibilities.” He took her hand. “Let’s go somewhere we can be together.”
“No, not today.”
“Why?”
She sprung off the bench and went into a tirade, the stuff movies were made of.
“Cut!”
John began to clap. So did the filming crew. “Beautiful, Elise, just beautiful.”
Max crossed to John. “Can I talk to you privately?”
“Yeah, sure I guess. We’re done for the day. Everybody, break the set down and go home.”
Elise knew Max was going to complain that he should have a scene like the one she’d performed. And maybe he should. In truth, she didn’t want to upstage him. But that was the way the script of A Woman in Jeopardy was written.
After taking off her makeup, she ate the cheese and fruit plate delivered to her trailer because she was starving, showered and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
Wearing jeans and a pretty pink blouse, she left the lot.
She was nervous about tonight but she wanted to see Finn.
She wasn’t ready to accept that their personal relationship was over and she’d decided to fight for him.
She arrived at the collective at seven. Several vehicles were in their parking lot. No hanky panky in the car tonight.
That made her smile. But on the way in, nerves claimed her. What would being together feel like now?
He met her in the waiting room. God, he looked good in jeans and a black shirt, rolled up at the sleeves. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Come into my office for a bit.” He cocked his head. “Don’t be nervous.”
“I’m not,” she lied.
Once inside, she sniffed. The room smelled like woodsy male cologne. “Have a seat.” He closed the door then sat behind the desk. “Again, I am sorry about how our night ended the last time we saw each other.”
“I know you are.”
“Like I said in the emails, I’ll still treat you with reiki. But that means we can’t have a personal relationship.”
“When we’re done with the sessions, would you reconsider?”
“No, it’s still unethical.”
“Ah.” Well, she’d have to change his mind. “I don’t like it Finn, but I’ll go along with your terms for now.”
His phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID. “I have to take this.”
“I’ll wait outside.”
She pretended to look at her phone in the reception area, but the door was ajar and she could hear him.
“Hey, honey, how are you doing?”
Honey?
“Do you believe him?...I guess. It’s probably best that he’s staying at the cabin…Fine. I’ll call you tonight. Or I can come over after my session.”
He stopped talking and appeared in the doorway. “I’m ready now.”
They headed into the reiki room. He didn’t dim the lights. “Tonight I’m going to, um, I’m going to…” He took a deep breath and let it out.
“Finn, something’s obviously wrong. I could hear parts of your phone conversation. Are you seeing someone else?”
“What? No. That was my sister.”
“Your twin. Fiona.”
“Yeah. Something’s going on with her. I’m worried. But we can still do this.”
“Tell me what’s happening, first. It’ll make you feel better if you get it out.”
He grasped the arm of the chair. “Fuck. She’s been married ten years to a nice guy, or so we thought.”
“What did he do?”
“He cheated on her.”
“That’s awful.”
“And it wasn’t even over when she found out. The idiot charged some gifts on their joint credit card and she saw it.”
“That had to hurt.”
“Yeah. I happened to go over there. She used to get migraines too, so I gave her a treatment then we talked.”
“What’s she going to do?”
“She hasn’t decided yet. She said she doesn’t even know if she wants that. Wants him, anymore.” He blew out a heavy breath. “But they’ve been married ten years and have the twins. I think she should try to work this out.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“No. I suggested counseling. But it doesn’t sound like it’ll happen. Tonight on the phone she said she asked him to leave for a while. They have a cottage on the lake so he went there.”
“Geez, sounds like they built a good life.”
“Yeah.” The sadness that etched on his face made her want to comfort him.
“Finn we don’t have to have a session tonight.”
“No, I want to. I found some more things you can do about the headaches.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Yeah, I am. And thanks for listening. I do feel better now.”
“Any time.”
* * *
Elise sat in the reiki chair and waited for Finn to begin. She knew this was a treatment, but she was glad for any kind of contact with him. She missed his touch.
“I’m recording this so you can take it home.” His brow furrowed with seriousness. “What you’re going to learn are called attunements. They’re energetic transmissions that connect you to reiki and your own ability to channel it for self-healing.”
“I can practice it when I’m feeling normal.”
“Good idea. First you learn the hand positions.” He went through the ears, the crown and throat like an instructor would. He was that, of course, but so much more to her.
“I remember those from the treatments.”
“You’re going to develop an awareness of energy flow and how to work with it within yourself.”
“How do I learn that?”
“By going through reiki with me. Talking about each position and then letting me start the energy flow so you can feel it, extend it. That’s the first step. You’ll eventually be able to access it without me.”
“Finn, exactly how do you have the ability to do it in the first place?”
“Training in reiki. Years of practice.”
“By teaching me, others, that skill could put yourself out of business.”
“It won’t.” He smiled. She thought showing pride in his work was sexy. “Remarkably, most people reject self-healing. They like the chair, the setting, the whole process.”
“Should we try it tonight?”
“It’ll take practice, but yes, we’ll do one right now. Ready?”
“Yes. I’m ready.” For a lot of things with you Finn McKenna. No matter what you think now.