Operation Soulmate (15 page)

Geraldine arrived at work looking and feeling a complete wreck. Thankfully, Brogan was in and on reception, and Sandra would be doing readings. She was in good company to feel safe and to just be herself.

     The second she walked in, she headed over to the spray essences and squirted a generous dose from one of the sample bottles of
cleansing and uplifting
spray, into her confused aura. Not completely satisfied, she made good use of the
mental clarity
bottle as well. She was just reaching for the
serenity
bottle when Brogan began to approach her.

     “Oh dear, this does
not
look good; what’s happened to you hon?” She asked with her characteristic directness. “Oh, my God, who did you shag?” At times like this, Geraldine wondered why she ever bothered trying to hide anything from a bunch of psychics. Brogan was trying hard not to smirk and Geraldine was beginning to look, dangerously, as if she was about to cry.

     “Obviously, someone you shouldn’t have then. Aww, hon, come into a cubicle for a minute; we need to talk.”

      As soon as they sat down, Geraldine erupted in floods of tears. “Oh Brogan, I’ve just had the best and the worst night of my life in one weekend. Oh, God! Brogan, I slept with Ben!”

     “Wow, I did
not
see that coming...” said Brogan, almost but not quite under her breath,  but the irony was completely lost on Geraldine.

      “I know! It was just awful!”

      “What!? Ben was awful in bed? Are you
sure
hon. I can’t imagine that, not for a minute. I mean he’s pretty hot, hon. Can’t have been his first time if you know what I mean. And look at what he does for a living. He must know what he’s doing in that department. Musta had a few moves...?”

      “No, Brogan, that’s not what I mean,” Geraldine cut her off quickly, unwilling to revisit the high-points of the experience, even in her imagination, but for some reason, still anxious to jump to Ben’s defence. “Ben wasn’t awful, the
situation
was awful, the whole mess of it, the whole...”

     “Hang on a minute, I’m sorry darlin’ but I’m havin’ a hard time figuring out what the problem is here. Let me just get this straight, you slept with Ben, hot Ben who you once described as 'the most beautiful person I've ever known!'
That
Ben, right? The one who's totally nuts about you? You slept with him - and I’m guessing it was pretty amazing - but you feel like shit...Just fill me in a bit more...”

       Geraldine sighed. She should have predicted this lack of sensitivity from Brogan where Ben was concerned. Considering she was
her
friend, she seemed incredibly biased in his favour. just recently.

     “Okay, let me explain. I went on my date with Toby, and it was great. He was so, so lovely. He was amazing, Brog, just so, so,”

     “Lovely, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jesus, Gerry could waffle.

     “And then I came home and Ben wasn’t in, and he got back on Sunday and his date had stood him up the night before, and I wanted to help him. So I started... coaching him and ...we... ended up....”

       “Shagging, yeah, yeah, yeah, cool, cool. Good plan! So what was the bad bit hon?
Was
it Ben? Was he a bit crap?”

    Geraldine just wasn’t getting through to Brogan at all. It was as if they were conversing in... two different languages. “NO! First of all, it wasn't a "plan". It just sort of happened. And second of all, Ben was amaaaaazing!. He was just so..... wow... I can’t describe it. He was...soooo...ugh... I mean so, soooo... I mean, really, really...” Geraldine sighed. Brogan sighed. This was hard work.

      “Okay, so Ben was wonderful, Toby was great, now you’ve got two hot guys after you... I’m having a little bit of trouble figuring out the problem, hon.”  

      Geraldine was confused as well for a second, but continued bravely. “Don’t you see, Brogan, I’ve just slept with my best friend, and now I’m about to
lose
my best friend
and
mess things up with my twin flame. I mean, this thing with Ben...That wasn’t supposed to happen!!!! And now it’s just messed everything up with Toby. I don’t want to be with Ben, and he doesn’t want to be with me. It was just, kind of an accident. Ben’s not
The One
....” She said erupting again. Brogan rolled her eyes.

      “Okay, first of all, hon, what makes you so certain Ben’s not "the one," and secondly, how do you ‘
accidentally’
get someone’s genitals engaging with yours in a significant way? I’m not sure I get that one darlin’. And thirdly, what makes you so sure this Toby guy
is
the one? You’ve been on
one date
with him, hon!!!! Look how long you’ve known Ben. What if Ben
is
the one? Have you ever thought about that?” Geraldine shook her head and looked sympathetically at Brogan. She just didn’t get the twin flames thing at all. She decided not to pursue the argument any further. It would only bring more confusion.

      “The thing is Brogan, what am I going to say to Toby? How am I
ever
going to be able to look him in the eye again, knowing what I’ve just done?”

      “Okay, this is what you’re gonna do hon, you’re gonna carry on as normal, that’s what you’re gonna
do!!
You’re just dating, remember, darlin’. People do silly things when they’re on the dating market, and
that’s
where you still
are,
whether you like it or not. Forget all this stuff about this Toby guy. You’re not in a committed relationship with him. You’ve been on
one date
with him.”

     “Why do you keep repeating that, as if one date means nothing? It’s not about the amount of time you've spent with a person; it’s about the
quality
of the time you've spent with them... the connection...”

     “Sorry, hon, I might be missing something here. I don't remember hearing you say he whisked you off in a hot air balloon or flew you over the grand canyon in a helicopter or took you to the opera. Just what did he do that was so earth-shattering?!” Geraldine should have known better than to expect Brogan to understand. Okay, she was possibly her closest friend - after Ben - but it was more her sense of fun and adventure that she loved her for, than her ability to empathise particularly well. Oh, of course she could also be a hopeless romantic once
she
actually fell for a guy, but that wasn’t where she was at that particular point in her life, not at all! And despite what she did for a living, Brogan was a dyed-in-wool pragmatist at heart, and there was just no point going into any detail with her about the depth of complication inherent in the reunion of twin flames. It was Sandra she needed to talk to today. Sandra would understand.

     “We just had a connection...you know ...we connected.” Brogan pursed her lips in frustration. There were honestly times when she just wanted to shake Geraldine. Why was she so in denial about Ben? It was ridiculous!

      “Hon,” she said, taking in a lightening-speed evaluation of the entire situation: Geraldine’s befuddled state, the fact that Sandra had called in to say she’d be late, the fact that they had a
lot
of bookings for the day and needed someone who was really on the ball to cover them all until Barbara arrived, the fact that the first client was due to arrive in ten minutes... “I’m putting you on reception for the morning. You can do some readings in the afternoon..
if
you feel up to it; then I’ll take over from you at reception. You're in no fit state to give anyone advice about anything! You know I love ya darlin’ but, right now, I wouldn’t trust your choice of detergent. S’that okay?” Geraldine nodded pathetically. It was
better
than okay. All she wanted to do at that precise moment was to hide away until she felt clearer in her mind and calmer in her soul, and until her body stopped tingling every time she thought of Ben.

      The morning was mercifully uneventful. Sandra, when she eventually arrived, was booked up all day, so there was no time to see her for a chat, and by the time Geraldine was ready to do her first reading at 2, Brogan informed her that she was also booked solidly for the rest of the afternoon.

      The phone rang at 3.45, and Brogan jumped slightly, tearing herself away from this month’s love horoscope to answer it. “Hello, Magic and Miracles, Brogan speaking, how can I help you?” She said, injecting as much sarcasm into her voice as she could get away with while still sounding polite and professional to the less nuanced listener. The day was already getting on her nerves.

       “Hi,” said a voice she recognised immediately as Ben’s confident, transatlantic drawl. Not quite so upbeat today though, she noticed.  Not quite so motivational. “Can I speak to Geraldine, please?”

      “Hi Ben,” she said, in a voice that she hoped sounded neutral and uninformed about their nocturnal goings-on. “It’s Brogan! How’s it going, mate?”

      “Oh, Hi Brogan, yeah, good thanks,” he fibbed, trying (just a little too late) to sound upbeat and professional. “You?”

       “Yeah, yeah, good; you know how it is...work, work, work, play, play, play...”

Ben was completely caught off guard by Brogan’s instant voice-recognition and effusive friendliness. He should have recognised the bright, Antipodean twang and hung up immediately. Why were all of Gerry’s friends so psychic and intuitively rabid ... Today of all days, when he’d desperately needed to feel just a little bit anonymous,
why
did he suddenly get a direct line, straight through to Detective Brogan’s office.

      “Sounds like a good work/life balance to me.” he said, slipping effortlessly into coaching mode, where it was safe.

     “Gerry’s doing a reading at the moment,” said Brogan, graciously letting him off the hook.

      “Ah, of course,” He relaxed slightly and finally allowed himself to exhale. He should have remembered she always turned her phone off during readings or switched it over to silent. She
hadn’t
been avoiding him, at all and he could have saved himself all this embarrassment if he’d just waited. “Okay, he continued. “Well, anyway, I just wanted to make sure she was okay. She wasn’t feeling great this morning.”

     “I know,” said Brogan, trying hard to remove the smile from her voice.

     “Anyway, I’d better go, I’m kind of with a client: I just slipped out to use his bathroom.  That’s where I’m calling from. I shouldn’t really be making calls, right now.”

     “That’s okay, Ben, your little secret’s safe with me...” She said, stifling a giggle. Okay, that last bit
had
been completely unnecessary. But hey, being on reception was no fun ...in and of itself. “I’ll tell her you called.” she added, quickly collecting herself and trying to sound nice and neutral again.

     “O...kay, thanks Brogan...” Brogan thought she could almost see the twinkle in Ben’s eyes, psychically, when she’d mentioned secrets. He was just, so damn, gorgeous. Nothing could really, genuinely upset this guy. What was
wrong
with Geraldine? “Oh, and ...I’ll bear that in mind.” he continued. “Take care, now. By the way, I still know a guy who would be perfect for you...”

     “Okay, cheers mate, you take care too...” said Brogan, stealthily avoiding the looming fix-up. Ben smiled for the first time that day. He just
had
to get Brogan to meet Danny. They were like two peas in a pod.      

       When Ben arrived at Danny’s place later that evening, he was still feeling very weird. He had no idea what he was going to do about the tricky situation at home. Was it fixable? Should he move out? Why did he feel as if he was splitting up with someone?

     He was looking forward to Danny’s relaxed, upbeat, no-nonsense approach. He needed it more than ever, tonight, probably even more than he needed to see Geraldine, herself,

just yet.

     Danny opened the door to his immaculate, bachelor pad looking slightly out of breath.      

     “Hey man, come in” he said, as Ben wondered in disconsolately.

     “Hey,” said Ben “Working out?”

    “Just a half an hour on the treadmill, man; you know how it is.” Danny was so driven. It was one of the things Ben really admired about him. He seemed to have boundless energy. He’d come home from a long day at the law firm, his own firm mind you, shower, throw some kind of protein-shake thing down his throat and then get straight into what he lovingly referred to as his home gym. The gym comprised a running machine, a rowing machine, endless weights in various sizes and a very suspect-looking vibrating contraption.

      Ben had no idea what it was or what it did and had, so far, never dared to ask. “Come in bro. W’ sup man?” Ben wandered into the tastefully decorated living room and slumped into his favourite,
Danny’s place
armchair. “Oh, let me guess, it’s gonna be a Gerry night isn’t it! Gerry, Gerry, Gerry. Okay, I’m not even gonna ask where you want to go man, I’m just gonna order a take-away, now.” He reached for his phone and began dialling.