Hey folks thanks again. The story will go four parts total. I know it's long, if that really bothers you please keep walking. I am not here to offend you. Though I promise the next story will be far shorter. For both of you that are still here, I cant thank you enough.
Oh yes no sex here, we have to torture the MC you know. But stay tuned for the finale Part Four. There's some there.
Well, there go the last two readers...
I am crunched for time this week and unable to write the next so I have been driving this forward to avoid a lag between chapters. The pitfall is i have not been responsive to comments. I apologize. I truly appreciate the comments! I am not ignoring them and hope to be able answer some of those after part four is published.
Happy Hollowdays
Part Three
TIM
There I was, alone on Christmas Eve. It had been a week since my escort plan had failed so spectacularly. I even thought about getting a cat. I wasn't really a cat guy, but I was lonely enough to convert. I was thwarted there too, as the pound wouldn't let people adopt pets the week before Christmas. I understood perfectly; it might make someone happy. The real reason was too many people dumped the poor animals the week after. I thought about the poor unfortunates who would love to have the companion. I wondered how many committed suicide because the pound was their last refuge? I wondered if I could get a grant to study it. I could study both sides of the street so to speak, as I fit my own definition of a dumped stray.
That notion reminded me that I thought too much, I thought things through too much. I was in terrible need of a hobby. I wasn't built to be this alone.
Even so, I hadn't called the escort service back. I wasn't sure I was up to it again. This being a humanitarian gig had serious drawbacks. My face hurt the morning after I brokered Jill and Gary's reconciliation, and the back of my head from hitting the semi frozen lawn. It amused me to think of the Humanitarian of the Year award winner being called to the stage only to be slugged in the face instead of given a trophy. Yep, waaaay too much time on my hands.
I got a message and call from my folks and sister earlier. That contact made my day. They had figured out that I wasn't with either my parent's or my sister when speaking to each other earlier; they were beside themselves that I was alone. The three of them independently had not figured that out. We seem to accomplish so much more in healthy groups. Why did I want to think of that? I genuinely wanted them to be happy; and they knew who being with made them happy. Plus, my parent's arctic cruise had been planned a year in advance knowing next year both their children would probably get married. I didn't save them much with the destruction of my planned marriage as they didn't have to plan or pay for that one anyway. Brenda really hadn't left me any upside. I wasn't going to explain my lack of company to my parents; they couldn't reschedule in these post covid times anyway.
The calls were great. It was wonderful hearing their voices. It was not wonderful hearing their guilt about having a great time while I was alone. I told them about my card from Andy and Brenda. I told my parents, "You are the second couple that feels that way, happy but guilty for feeling that way. Stop it. We don't want to be listed with that other couple!" I laughed. They liked that. I told them to have a great time. I saved the day for them. I was still alone.
My sister couldn't cancel her trip because it was the world's worst secret her boyfriend was about to propose. Her future mother-in-law even wanted to do preparatory wedding things with her proto daughter-in-law.
I saw no reason for my misery to take that joy away from all those good people. They hadn't done anything wrong. That the people I loved were vital and doing well buoyed me. That was the truth.
But those calls had come much earlier in the day. Now the day had grown long, threatening to become evening, and the impending later night was beginning to haunt me. I began to hope for an accidental visit from the ghost of Christmas Past. Hell, I would positively party with the ghost of Christmas Future and even hold his hideous boney hand!
Then about six o'clock I got a phone call. It scared the hell out of me, cutting through that all too silent night. It would have scared the hell out of a cat too, if I had one. It was from my former presumptive, then permanently postponed, booty call, Jill.
"Tim! Merry Christmas! Gary and I are doing great, thank you. You saved our lives. We are fitting back together almost like we used to be. We are both so thankful to have another chance. You did that!" Jill paused I could hear her taking a big breath, "I know you are alone, Tim, but you delivered a Christmas miracle and I know you will see the immense value in that, even if you didn't get one yourself. You are amazingly considerate that way! I wanted to tell you that."
Jill's words were full of the jubilant emotions she spoke of. It did gladden me. Then she started talking in ways I didn't understand. I didn't understand many of her sentence fragments. Actually, I wasn't even sure of the subject!
"Look Tim, to use your phrase, "I need you to be a hero again". S-She's in bad shape. She needs to be redeemed."
Before I could ask who we were talking about Jill launched into a frenetic explanation, "It's guilt. But also, she feels dirty. She was engaged. She just wanted extra time before the marriage. She let him have her as a compromise. He didn't like the compromise. He didn't like what he saw as doubt. So, he took her compromise, and her, and then a competitor of hers just to hurt her. She knows he didn't really love her now, which might have been part of her original reticence. There are a lot of switched positions, but does her situation sound familiar?"
Shit, Jill had just diagnosed Brenda's and my engagement and eventual falling apart. It was great to have the answer, but it was also a sword through my heart. Brenda gave us a long engagement as she must have realized she didn't love me, at least not wholly, heck not even enough. Having her eyes opened she found she felt more for Andy. She did try to push him away. I'm the one who forced them together. Once alone together they knew they felt the same way about each other and shazam, my world was gone with the wind. Jill's quick synopsis sounded like a familiar song with the verses put together in a different order.
Jill was speaking again, "She's off men, and joined the same site I joined to punish herself -- just like I did. There are some really interesting stories at that agency, many are single women who see it as a great way to get paid while they concentrate on other things like education. How they'll explain being an escort to a future husband I don't know. But they seem emotionally healthy and confident. Unfortunately, there are a number of forlorn wives trying to help a family through tough times, praying their husbands don't find out. Those poor women will stop as soon as they can. And then there are some broken souls like me, and like the girl I'm sending you."
I heard myself speak, "Sending me? Jill what's happening? What are you doing?" There was a tinge of panic in my voice.
Jill's tenor changed, it seemed of paramount import that I understand her, "She's working, Tim; you are her first job. That must sound familiar too. But she won't be working because you are in on this, and you can help her, except she doesn't know it. Tim, she doesn't know you aren't a client. She doesn't know I've sent her for you to save. She will want to get to it, because of her self-loathing and depression. But Tim she's scared to death and doesn't really want to do it. She finds the whole thing repugnant."
"Thanks for the confidence builder, Jill."
"Not you Tim, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Both of us were right there in that same horrible place emotionally. I'm presuming you still are. Tim, she doesn't need the money, that's not a factor. So, when she discovers she doesn't have to "work" tonight she will be relieved. But Tim, I need you to keep her with you. Engage her."
