Yvette's Escapades

Ego vs soul intuition.

The next few weeks flew by. Yvette felt like a leaf in the wind, drifting towards her inescapable fate. The days turned cold and rain soaked the streets. Her emotional rollercoaster did not seem to stop, and she was past her first few serious fights with Jay. Sometimes it seemed they were on the brink of breaking up, but s*x afterwards was always fantastic, and the next morning everything always seemed so perfect;, that Yvette quickly accepted that this is just how their relationship is shaping up, smoothing the rough edges, so they can work on their lives together without a hitch.

Jocelyn was gone, and Julie-Marie remained awkwardly silent, always busy with guiding someone else. Yvette thought she might want to express something with her sudden silence - she almost felt reprimanded by it. “Well, the old goose will loosen up once she needs the dough”, Yvette thought, and decided to leave her guides out of her life for a while. She was busy filling her life with Jay anyway, although she was a little afraid, as she felt one side of her personality opening up again, one aspect she worked hard in the past to make peace with, and let go of.

After an intense week of fighting, forgiving, and b*****e s*x, she retreated to her castle, the old family home again, to lick her wounds, quite literally. Her ankles and wrists were sore from the light bruises the handcuffs left on her. She learned to enjoy each of these sessions more, as she opened herself up and dived into the ecstasy of complete exposedness.

The garden was invisible under the blanket of the fallen leaves of the giant oak. She felt grateful that she got some repairs done earlier, in the summer, because the quickly and smoothly running hot tap water was a real blessing this time of the year, as the colds started to bite. She took a huge, comforting bath with ice cream, champagne and candles, before hitting her old bed and sleeping through most of the next day.

The next morning Yvette woke up to a beautiful day. Bright sunlight filled the spacious rooms with old furniture, the flying dust glinting in the golden rays. It was a relief, after weeks of overcast sky and lots of rain. She lit her candles, her sage from the garden, placed a teapot on the stove.

“I am enough, I am loved, and I love myself.” she said to herself quietly. “I will find love because I deserve love, I want love.” She almost felt the presence of her grandparents, smiling over her, as she was using their old things in their old kitchen.

As she sipped on her tea and smelled the sweet smells of jasmine and plumeria flowers blowing in the wind, and eating her juicy grapes picked from the hillsides nearby, she began to write a list of what she wanted in a man.

“A different look, mysterious, he must have a sense of humor, intuitive and be able to read my feelings without having to say a word. He must love to write, read and listen to music, he must be able to accept me for who I am, and not for the things that I have. He must love s*x!”

Her phone beeped. It was the app which is in connection with the gate bell and the surveillance system she had installed a few months back. The sound made it clear that Jack arrived, and pushed the ring button. With a touch on her phone, she saw the picture of the small HD camera attached under the wings of the owl statuette on a pillar of the gate. It was Jack’s old Land Rover. She opened the gate, grabbed the teapot with two mugs and went down ahead to greet him.

“Thanks a lot for coming…” breathed Yvette, crossing her legs on the bench “...you okay here, I mean, you don’t mind staying out? It’s a bit brisk, I know, but the Sun shines so delightfully, I thought…”

“Nah, it’s alright.” answered Jack, flashing his million dollar smile.

“And do excuse me for this invitation, it must be strange…”

“No problem at all! You sure you don’t need anything, though, I got my tools with me in the pickup…” Jack gestured helpfully back to the old white all-terrain vehicle.

“No. Thank you. It is something else I need… taken care of.” Yvette said, blushing.

“I’m all ears, Yvette.” said Jack, his eyes cast down first, but then looking straight at Yvette. He tried to look confident, with some degree of success.

“Look.” she sighed “I know you already think I’m a little crazy, and this will not help, so, please don’t judge me, this is very… stupid.”

“You know how to tease, really.” he said with a boyish laugh “I’m telling you, Yvette, I’m not like all these folks around here, you know, sometimes I put my nose out of these woods, I’ve been to town, I even, guess what, been out of State a few times! I don’t even think you’re crazy, I just wanted to make sure… you know, and you’re a nice lady coming here all alone usually, so I wanted you to know that… if you need anything, Jack’s at your service!”

“I know. I appreciate that. Really.” Yvette nurtured some guilty thoughts about what she would ask from this handsome, honest guy, especially now that she had a taste of sub-o e*****a, but she quickly rerouted her thinking. Situation is pretty awkward as it is, no need to make it more severe.

Jack nodded and waited expectantly.

“Okay...” Yvette gathered her will. “It’s about a letter. I got a letter. I… don’t know who sent it. This could not come with the post as there is no address on it, no stamps, nothing. Someone just threw it in the post box.”

“Go on. What’s with the letter?”

“It’s just… you have any idea who sent it?”

“Ah, well. You know, they are probably kids, teasing you. Nothing, you know..., intimidating I hope?”

“Nah, no way, no…” Yvette laughed in embarrassment “It’s just freaky, that’s all what it is.”

“Okay. Is there anything in the contents that could give you ideas, who the sender might be?”

“Jack… it’s a single word.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah. It says…” Yvette pondered for a few seconds over whether she should go ahead with sharing what was in the letter, but it was already so ridiculous, she decided to go for it. “It says ‘ASK’ “.

“Ask?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s it? Ask? A-S-K?”

“Exactly.”

“Well, Yvette…” said Jack “I’ll see what I can do!” and he busted into laughter. “I mean, sure, I will ask around… not ask, I mean… sorry, I didn’t mean to...I’m just...well, I will try to help.”

“Thanks.” said Yvette, biting her lip. “I know, I shouldn’t have brought it up, it’s stupid…”

“It’s perfectly fine, I mean, only reason it’s funny because I imagined a somewhat regular mail, with something actually written in it. And it’s just… a word. Not a very… telling word, even.”

“You know, since my Dad died, no one writes, who would write a mail anyway, nowadays, but really, it’s been ages since something arrived here. I thought it should mean something…”

“Maybe someone wants to encourage you. To be open, go forward and… just ask.”

“Let me know if you have any ideas about this mystical someone.”

“I will, Yvette. We’ll get to the bottom of this. You know, if you give me the envelope… my cousins have this investigator kit. We could check it for prints.”

“Wow. Why not? Cool!”

Yvette gave the high quality French envelope with absolutely no sign on it, to Jack, who put on his gloves not to contaminate it with his own fingerprints, and put the evidence into his toolbox, carefully. They shared some good laughs, than he drove away into the gathering darkness.

Yvette successfully navigated her attention away from Jay, with her evening yoga session and an hour of silent prayer. While practicing the asana, she thought about Grace, how she needed her loving company, and felt a longing for the next early morning yoga session they will have in the city. Suddenly, she felt sad and alone within these ancient, cold stonewalls. She could only blame herself, as Grace offered to join, but Yvette said she needed the “me” time. Jay was out of town for a three-day business trip. Yvette thought she needed to be alone to clear her head a little, but now she was fearful. She feared that in reality she came here to feel sorry for herself, because of Jay not taking her with him. That was a scary thought. She did not want to be like that. She exhaled lengthily, and directed all her attention to her breathing and the control of her movements.

When she left the mansion for the city, the first snowflakes drifted down from the sky. When covered in snow, the country was like a fairytale. But she had no mood for the cold winds, and the snow was going to melt away anyway, leaving only mud and water behind. As the flakes glittered in her headlights, she suddenly realized the reason why Julie-Marie fell silent. She wanted her last message to sink in. Yvette felt her watchful presence often, sometimes saw her in her dreams, her slender features embraced by angel fire, dressed only in her long golden hair, like the sort of manga figure she looks on the animated avatar image, but all the time, she was only watching, without speaking a word, her quizzical expression on her face, which was never a smile, yet it radiated benevolence, but also an encouraging expectance. She wanted something from her, and she believed in Yvette, that she is capable, but she cannot help until she takes the next step. The truth was burning in front of Yvette like daylight, although she saw only the reflections of her own lights thanks to the snowflakes dancing ahead, while she whizzed by the dark wall of pine trees. Julie-Marie wanted her to trust. Trusting the Universe means trusting herself, most of all. Letting go of the attachments, letting go of expecting more than what she gets. Not checking her phone every minute, not feeling bad about her partner behaving exactly like he should behave in that certain phase of their relationship, with his obviously careful, and most of all respectful personality. Yvette banged on the steering wheel in frustration as she realized that this is exactly what Julie-Marie was telling her with her silence. She had simply nothing more to say, until Yvette is ready to take the next step, and becomes prepared for their next session.

Yvette felt the world under her, turning, roaming its cosmic path. She decided that she’d call Julie-Marie first thing in the office tomorrow, and would apologize. She knew, that this time, the metaphysical teacher will answer her call.