Mid-Life Crisis Diaries (7 page)

C H A P T E R  11

A
fter another half hour in the next shop, the pair of broken lovers found a steady pace to walk that both gave them time to see most of the stalls and also get through more of the market. The only way Andre convinced Marsha to stroll faster, was by assuring her that they could visit the market every day if she wanted.

At one stall, Marsha eyed the beautiful handmade jewelry so long that she was surprised she didn’t spend a day’s wages on only necklaces. They were all so beautiful, and with all the colors, would go with practically everything she owned back home. These lovely necklaces would have added a pop of color to everything, and she vowed to think about the purchase and come back another day to pick her favorite one. Something pretty to remind her of this pretty place, and her pretty tour guide.

As they strolled away from the jewelry stall, Marsha slid her hand back into Andre’s and strung the other one around his arm, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Thank you,” she said, her eyes closed in a big smile. “For letting me look so long.”

“Absolutely,” he answered. “It looked like you really found something you liked.” Marsha walked beside him, her eyes still closed, completely blissful. “You looked like a kid at Disney World, it was a great treat for me to experience that with you. Here, can you stop for a minute?”

Marsha stopped in her tracks and Andre circled around behind her. Before she could ask him what he was up to, he’d slipped a beautiful red and orange beaded necklace around her neck. She immediately pulled it up closer to her face to admire it.

“Andre!” she half-shouted. “It’s…it’s even more beautiful on than it was on the rack!” She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she beamed.

“I really love that giant smile on you, actually. It’s a really great look for you. And to think I put it there…” Andre smiled, and kissed her below the forehead, right between her eyes. It was the sweetest thing in the world and made her so happy. “You look lovely.” He swung his arm over her shoulder, and rested it there. With his other hand, as they walked, he sneakily handed her a brown sack with a little handle on it. “And these are to go with it.” He never broke his gaze from the horizon, but the slightest smile played at the corner of his lips.

Marsha’s mouth actually fell open, then turned to a girlish smile that went from ear to ear. She opened it, and ran her hand around in the bag. It was completely full of necklaces!

“Wow!” was all she could manage. She honestly just didn’t know what to say, and with Andre, she didn’t feel the need to say anything, which was a first. When Blake gave her gifts, they always had to be acknowledged. With Andre, she felt like that first
thank you
was enough. She wrapped her left arm around his waist and leaned into him as they walked.

“Hungry?” he asked, rubbing her shoulder lightly.

“Famished.” she smiled. “How about something on a stick?”

Andre laughed. “Your wish is my command, fine dining it is.”

The two of them, their arms wrapped around each other in a gesture of friendship, strolled along the market stalls looking for the best-smelling thing they could find. They only got distracted a few times to pull skirts off the racks and hold them up to Marsha, looking for a brightly colored one that would fit her perfectly. They found two, and she purchased them both.

“It really isn’t excessive if you’re going to wear them while you’re here.” He assured her.

From one vendor, they purchased some fresh guacamole that was made for them right when they ordered it, along with a heaping pile of chips that were so hot they couldn’t be touched right away. The two of them sat at a dirty little table off to the side of the market and enjoyed their snack, along with two cold bottles of soda. It took the edge off of Marsha’s hunger, and made her crave something sweet. All the smells wafting together in the air at once reminded her of the fairs in the fall back in the states. Except at the fair, everything smelled of grease and sugar. This was a much more satisfying array of smells. It smelled….satisfying. It smelled like
life.

They tried some sweet dough covered in cinnamon and sugar next, and ate it so quickly that Marsha wasn’t sure her tongue would ever recover from the hot snack. By the time they walked past the vendor who had chunks of meat, neither one of them were hungry. They laughed and decided to try it next time. It comforted both of them to know there would be a next time.

“So what do you think,” Marsha asked Andre while they walked back to his car, “is the most difficult part of spending this time with me, for you? Or is there a most difficult part? I mean, how do you feel about it? Is it therapeutic?”

Without hesitation, which she attributed to his above average confidence, Andre told her. “I don’t really find any part of this odd. Do you? And before you answer that, I want you to, uh…not answer that. Because the answer doesn’t really matter.”

Marsha looked at him, trying to let him finish and not wanting to interrupt. She was taking time to try and figure out just what he was trying to say. The same respect she would give a true friend, she imagined.

Andre continued, occasionally gesturing with his hands, which were now carrying her bag of necklaces and two bright skirts. “You’ve only been here a few days, and already I’ve found a confidant. And more valuable than you being a confidant, someone who I could truly tell all my secrets and feelings to…is that I don’t
have
to. You don’t seem to need to know them, you’re just here by my side, going through this with me. And I can appreciate that. We seem to have a sort of understanding that two people don’t always get the privilege of having. I understand you, you understand me. And so we…
are
. We exist, together. And your existence feels like a warm light to my soul.” He kissed her once more on the forehead before he helped her into the car. “Your soul feels like a hug, and I really thank you for that. It’s just what I needed right now.”

Andre placed the bag and skirts in the back seat of the car and shut the door, then squatted down on the ground next to the open passenger door where he’d just put Marsha. He balanced well on his toned, tanned legs, and lifted his sunglasses into his hair so that she could see his eyes when he spoke. Reaching out both of his hands, he placed them gingerly on her leg. “The fact that you’re here, the fact that you’re not some twenty-year-old bimbo that I’m trying to drink away my worries with, means a lot to me. I’d considered that, honestly. Taking up drinking and clubbing. But that never suited me before, and the thought kind of sickened me. I didn’t want to be a different person while I go through this valley. And as you know, it’s a
dark, dark
valley to try and figure out why someone that you’ve poured your heart and soul into doesn’t love you back, all of a sudden. I’m really glad that Dr. Lee matched us together, and gave us the incredible gift of helping each other heal. That, to me, is worth at least ten bimbos.” He smiled hugely and winked at her, watching with pleasure as her soft facial expression turned to laughter in an instant. He stood quickly, touching his forefinger to her chin before he closed the door. “Thanks for being you, is what I’m trying to say.”

Marsha melted and for a moment she knew that Dr. Lee was right. She was starting to feel better. And with that, they were off to discover the municipal market together.

C H A P T E R  12

T
he municipal market was anything but boring. And Marsha was glad that they didn’t purchase anything perishable at the other market, because upon first inspection, she was certain they’d be here for quite some time. On Andre’s suggestion, she changed out her shoes, opting for the tennis shoes she’d brought with her. She also managed to wiggle into one of the skirts in the street before they locked up the car. She left her shorts on, and with the skirt and the see through blouse, she felt like she looked like she belonged. Pulling out her phone and handing it to Andre, she wanted to send Dr. Lee a picture to commemorate her next step of transformation. When she unlocked her phone, she saw that she had missed a call.
From Blake.

Quickly sliding the notification to the side, she flipped the camera on and asked a local man to take her picture. Andre stood to the side with his hands in his white shorts pockets. When he saw her shaking her head back and forth and motioning toward him, he quietly and happily obliged. Without hesitation of where the picture might end up, or who might see it, he wrapped both arms around his new friend and rested his head on her shoulder. Marsha wondered if he always took pictures this way, and then realized she didn’t care. It was unlike any other picture she’d ever been in, herself, and she quite enjoyed it. She looked
amazing
, felt
amazing
, and the picture would be
amazing
. When the local man handed her the phone back, she inspected the picture. The two people in the picture looked as happy as anyone else she saw walking the streets of Puerto Vallarta. She grinned and let Andre watch as she messaged the picture to Dr. Lee.

“She’s gonna love that,” he said, kissing Marsha on the cheek and ruffling her hair. Again, the act didn’t feel sexual, but more like a bosom friend. And she loved it.

She’d have to check the voicemail from Blake later. She half expected it to be him asking a question about taking her off the life insurance or something. And she certainly didn’t want to let that ruin her good time. Knowing him, and his amazing lack of tact, he was probably calling her from the nicest restaurant in Nepal, with a gorgeous twenty-something on his arm as a consolation prize for his midlife crisis.

On the other hand, what if he really did want something good? What if he was feeling poorly for his actions and wanted to reconcile? She shook the thought from her head and took Andre’s outstretched hand and crossed the street to the municipal market. Marsha’s immediate favorite lane of the market was a tiny spot where people had shirts, woven ponchos, and scarves hanging everywhere. The stall itself was so colorful that it lifted Marsha’s spirits right away and helped her forget about her missed phone call.

Marsha’s favorite part about this section, though, was the huge tree that snaked up between the two sides of the street. The vendors were sitting in chairs, relaxing under the shade of the huge tree; it’s green leaves hanging where any child could walk by and pull them from the branches. It looked magical, and no one else seemed to notice. The whole place made Marsha feel more like a child every time she encountered something new.

When they reached a vendor who sold only intricately designed sombreros, Marsha pulled her hand away from Andre’s and ran her fingers over the beautiful hats. “So Blake called.”

“Oh really,” he answered, not seeming concerned. “And?”

“Well, I missed it. It’s been since we’ve been out. I’m just trying to figure out if I should call him back or not.”

“Of course you should call him back, he’s your husband.” His voice was confident and he smiled at her from the other side of the table full of hats. He picked up a black one with red tassels all the way around it. There were green and white designs running all up the large part of the sombrero, and gold balls hung from it, giving it beautiful movement as he lifted it toward his head. He smiled his goofiest smile, and Marsha laughed.

“Hold it right there, please!” She fished her cell phone out of her purse and snapped a picture of him. He looked every bit that part of someone on vacation, and she was proud to call him hers. Or…well…whatever he was to her.

They didn’t mention the missed phone call for the rest of their trip through the market, and instead spent their time enjoying each other’s company. Marsha decided that, although she still did love Blake very much, and did want to know what he wanted, that it could wait. After all, he’d waited days and days to contact her at all, so making him wait for a call back wasn’t really that mean. Hopefully, surely, he’d find something to keep him busy until this evening when she could return the call.

It wasn’t until the car trip back toward her condo that Marsha approached the subject again. When what seemed an appropriate lull in the quiet presented itself, she put her hand on Andre’s arm and looked at him. One of the nice things about riding in the car with him was that he didn’t insist on there being music playing all the time. It was something she really appreciated since, if they were ever in the car together, Blake always wanted there to be music on. And he always turned it up loud enough to discourage a conversation, even if it was classical music. She’d just grown accustomed to having noise in the car at all times, and loved the fact that she and Andre could ride in silence and not feel strange about it.

“I have a question for you, Andre.” She squeezed his arm lightly as a quiet sign to him that it was important. Somehow, she knew he would understand.

“Anything, love,” he answered, turning toward her for a moment, pulling his brows together.

“When I go to call Blake back,” she said this, and nothing else. She wasn’t even really sure what she wanted to say.

“Mhmm…?” It was the sound of patience. And it told her to take all the time she needed to form her thought, that he wasn’t going anywhere. His face also let her know that he really did want to know what was on her mind.

“I was just wondering if I could call Blake back before we eat dinner, tonight. And I know that I’m being pretty presumptuous in assuming that we’re eating dinner together. But let’s just say I’m being hopeful, in a desperate sort of way.” She smiled sheepishly, a little embarrassed that she’d admitted out loud how much she needed him in this moment.

“Yes, of course we’re eating dinner together. I was just going to ask you if you had any plans for the rest of the evening.”

Marsha laughed and shook her head, which made him smile.

“Very good, then! You decide when you want to call him back, and I’ll give you your privacy wherever we are. If you want to talk about it beforehand or afterward, that’s wonderful. But if not, I respect your privacy. Because I would only assume you’d do the same for me.”

“Yeah, of course I would. I really appreciate it. It’s just, the more I thought about going back to the condo after spending the day with you, and calling him…the more I hated the idea.” She rested her right arm on the armrest of the car and leaned her chin on her hand.

“You don’t want to be alone,” he said as he pulled her hand down and wrapped it up in his. “That’s understandable. I’ll be here for you, whatever you need.”

“Thanks,” Marsha sighed. “And when Layla comes calling, I’ll do the same for you. Promise.” Andre smiled at her genuinely, and shook her hand back and forth lightly. “Want to go for a swim before dinner?”

“Love to,” Andre kissed the back of her hand and they made their way back to the condo, souvenirs in tow.