Read Online Among the Ducklings by Marsh Brooks - Free Book Online Page B

you were doing,” Stacy
said.   She was talking as if she had
never left him and as if the heartbreak and pain that he had suffered never
happened.

    “Well, I'm
fine. You?”

    “I am
OK.   Why didn't you return my calls? I
left several messages for you at home on your answering machine,” Stacy asked.

    “I was
going to,” Phil lied. “I have been very busy at work and with therapy.”

    “I also
emailed you. But you never responded,” Stacy said.

    “I didn't
get your email. It might have been my spam filter,” Phil answered. “But I did
receive something from a Stacy Marshall last week. I didn’t know who it was, so
I deleted it.” It was a second lie.   In
fact, Phil had read in some magazine a few years ago that Stacy was briefly
married to an actor whose last name was Marshall, and that she had kept his
last name after the divorce.     

    “That was
me.   My last name is Marshall now.”

    “Congratulations,
Stacy.   It's been about three years since
I've heard from you. What do you want from me now?”

    “I admit
that I made mistakes and I feel bad about it.   That doesn't mean I don't care about what happens to you,” she
replied.

    “No need to
worry about me. I'm fine,” Phil said before adding, “Someone is waiting
for me. I have to go.”

    “Wait,” he
heard Stacy say as he hung up.

    It was
unlike Phil to hang up on someone, and he regretted it as soon as he realized
what he had done. He made a mental note to apologize to Stacy if they ever
talked again. But he hoped they never would.

    Stacy
looked at her Iphone and wondered if Phil had heard
her before he hung up. She had so much to tell him and wondered if he would
ever give her the chance to explain.   Did
she have any regrets for what she did to him? Absolutely, after all, she was in
love with him when she left.   Did she
have any remorse? Not at all.   Love is not everything.   When she left Miami, she was a model hoping
to get a shot at fame. When she finally found fame as a model, with the help of
her director/lover, she was able to get into acting, which had led to movie
production. Thinking back now, leaving Phil was the right career move. Success
doesn't have any place for remorse.

    Prior to
calling Phil, Stacy had spent the whole morning reading a screenplay for a
television movie that she was going to produce.   Now that she had spoken to Phil, she realized even more that she missed
something in her life.    Since Phil, she
had had her share of lovers.   But she was
always suspicious about their true motives, and for good reason. Sometimes she
discovered they were with her for money, or for a glossy picture with her on
the red carpet, or simply for connections.   With Phil, she knew she was loved for herself.   She missed the kind of love that Phil gave
her. Phil deeply loved her when she didn’t have any money and wasn’t famous.
Since Phil, she had never found that kind of love again.
    She had a plan to get Phil back.    When
the voice came from the airport's speakers announcing that boarding had started
for her long flight to Miami, she smiled. She knew that her plan was already in
motion.

     

       

     

    Chapter Seven

     

    Isabel's therapy
sessions consisted mostly of two hours of daily grueling exercises, which her
therapists call “ locomotor training”.   The training consisted of Isabel's body being
suspended in a harness over a treadmill, while the therapists helped her move
her legs. Now that she was back in her wheelchair this afternoon, she felt
exhausted. She was only by the lake for few minutes when Phil came.   She was so absorbed by the view of the
ducklings playing in the water, that she didn’t hear him come.

    “Beautiful
sight, isn't it?” Phil said as he sat on the bench.

    “Yes, it
is,” Isabel replied.   She was shaking
inside.   Why did she have to feel that
way every time she was around him? She asked herself.   She wasn't a teenager anymore.

    “After