Bad Luck Comes in Threes

Bad Luck Comes in Threes

Another one of these endlessly long work days, Andrea thought, as she dropped a stack of folders on her desk and sat down. Complicated land deals and all that small print were taking a toll on her. Sure she was compensated more than generously for her work and she mostly enjoyed her colleagues. If she didn’t start taking better care of herself, she wouldn’t be able to successfully camouflage the dark circles under her eyes with makeup.

Today, though, she had the added frustration of luscious Lynne. Oh how Andrea wished she could wipe that self-satisfied smirk off Lynne’s face. Just for a moment, she fantasised about that possibility. How had she missed the signs of Lynne’s deceitful character in all the time they had spent together? Now Andrea had a hard time fathoming that they’d been friends in those early years.

She took a moment to think back on early years. Both Andrea and Lynne had started working at the same time and had shared an office until they’d both been promoted. They had covered for each other, commiserated when they were over-worked and celebrated whenever they closed a new deal. Most of their free time was spent together, shopping for clothes, eating at new restaurants, going to yoga classes and watching films together.

Andrea and Lynne had been close. They confided in each other and gossiped about their co-workers. Their office was a hotbed of rivalries and constant power struggles. It was fascinating to watch.

And then Andrea had met Doug. She had begun dating him while Lynne had been off visiting her family in Hong Kong. Upon her return, Andrea saw less of Lynne as she came up with excuse-upon-excuse not to spend time with Andrea. Funny, Andrea thought, that she was also experiencing the same thing with Doug. It took weeks before Lynne bounced into Andrea’s office and told her, in a patently false, mournful tone, that Doug had fallen for her and she couldn’t resist him. Lynne hoped that Andrea didn’t mind. When Andrea confronted Doug, she was disgusted with the pitiful excuses Doug, the lowlife worm, gave her.

Andrea has been heart-broken at the time. It wasn’t so much that she’d lost Doug, but that she felt betrayed by Lynne. After Lynne walked off with Doug, that was the end of their friendship as far as Andrea was concerned. Lynne always claimed that Andrea was better off without Doug anyway, but Andrea was in no mood to forgive her.

Lynne continued to behave as if Andrea was her best friend. She couldn’t understand why Andrea was being so ‘closed-minded’ as Lynne had frequently called her.

Andrea had fumed over this and had found it increasingly difficult to behave civilly toward Lynne at work. Andrea decided that she would simply avoid talking to Lynne unless she absolutely had to.

Months went by and Andrea eventually started going out again. One Friday evening, Andrea met Jay while standing in a painfully-slow line waiting for theatre tickets. They’d felt an immediate attraction for each other. Jay had pressed his card into her hand and told Andrea to give him a call. Several weeks later, Andrea did just that and before long, she and Jay were going out regularly.

It followed naturally then, that Jay would accompany Andrea to the annual holiday office party. How was Andrea to know that Lynne was no longer seeing Doug? Andrea had thrown herself into work after Doug’s departure and hadn’t kept up nearly as closely on office gossip as she suddenly realised she should have.

Andrea winced when she thought about what had happened next. Lynne had made a beeline over to Andrea and Jay, demanding an introduction. Ah, if looks could kill … but Andrea was more dignified than that.

So, in some ways, it didn’t come as much of a surprise when Jay apologised profusely and told Andrea that he was smitten with Lynne.

How was this possible, thought Andrea? Not only have I lost one man to Lynne, but now I’ve lost a second? Andrea knew she was better off without these guys. Who wanted to be saddled with weak, gullible men who so easily fell for Lynne’s beguiling charm?

When Andrea met Larry at a conference a few months’ later, she vowed she would never introduce him to Lynne. Andrea did not want to go through this humiliation again. Larry seemed to be a stronger sort of person, but around Lynne, Andrea figured all bets were off.

For months, things went swimmingly with Larry and Andrea began to feel optimistic that this relationship might have long-term possibilities. Andrea and Larry went on a tour of the wine country and planned a trip overseas to visit family.

While enjoying a glass of wine late one afternoon, Andrea looked up and couldn’t believe her eyes. There, standing not two metres away from her, was her nemesis. As always, Lynne looked stunning. Worse, Lynne was headed over to Andrea’s table.

Andrea performed a short introduction and then turned her attention back to Larry. Larry, though, was staring avidly at Lynne and invited her to join them. Seething with rage, Andrea drank her wine quickly and rather abruptly suggested to Larry it was time to leave.

Larry, however, was not pleased with Andrea for insisting upon a fast exit.

“Whatever is your problem?” demanded Larry. Andrea responded by saying that Lynne was a treacherous, back-stabbing former friend. Larry, much to Andrea’s complete disgust, said that he thought Andrea’s assessment was a bit too harsh.

Andrea didn’t respond just then.

(to be continued)

Hummingbirds – Part Two

(Part One can be found here.)
Watching Ali bound off to a group of girls who seemed to have materialised out of nowhere, Louise could tell that they wanted to talk with her. Louise thought maybe she could wave and continue on home, but the girls were walking toward her. Well, better just to be friendly and cut this short – one of the girls stepped forward and Louise recognised her.

“We wanted to know the name of your dog. We always talk to him outside the bakery,” said the girl with long, brown hair.

“Your blue bicycle is really cool,” added the tallest girl of the group.

“We were wondering if we could see some of your paintings,” said another.

“Sure come on over tomorrow and I’ll show you some of my work if you’d like,” responded Louise. Suddenly it dawned on Louise that she’d never painted outdoors.

“How do you know that I paint?” she asked. The girls looked at each other and finally the brown-haired girl admitted that they had seen her painting one night while peeking in her windows. Louise was taken aback – and asked how often they had done this. “Oh, just once or twice when we’re down this way”, announced the tallest girl.

So Ali doesn’t bark at people he knows, Louise mused, but then began to wonder if he barked at anyone at all who came out this way. Before she had left Toronto, Ali had always barked at strangers. Louise hoped that he still did.

Hummingbirds – First draft

These early-morning hours were Louise’s favourite part of the day. She loved to lie in bed and watch the sun create intricate patterns on her bedroom walls. She let her mind drift wherever it felt like going. Eventually it always ended up immersed in planning the day. Louise laughed, thinking that she rarely stuck to her plan anyway, so what was the point in planning?

It was a perfect day to visit her favourite meadow, Louise figured. Spring had arrived early in the Kootenays and her meadow was alive with colour, scent and the sounds of returning birds. If she hadn’t promised to send her illustrations in tomorrow, Louise would have taken the entire day and hiked in the meadow and on the mountain trails. She never tired of being in the mountains that now engulfed her.

It always filled Louise with a sense of wonder that all she had to do was walk out her back door and she was surrounded by the tall pines, cedars and hemlock, with mountains looming as backdrop.

This was the reason why she had chosen this place, far from the way she had always lived. There was something magical about letting in all the sounds that now surrounded her. It wasn’t long ago that she’d lived in a high-rise apartment in downtown Toronto. There she had blocked out the constant noise of a city and mostly kept her head down as she rushed between her office and the subway.