Mano's Story by Michael Murphy

Author:Michael Murphy [Murphy, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2015-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

THE FIRST week back in Hawaii was tough. Not only was I dealing with the jet lag and the fatigue from my… um, socializing, but I also had a busy week of classes and work. By the time the weekend arrived I was so ready for it that I can’t begin to describe it. I slept in on Saturday morning.

May blended into June, which slogged on into early July. And then the world fell apart. Jake’s girlfriend, Jess, the woman he had fallen head over heels in love with so dramatically, was unexpectedly transferred by her employer. After years of living in Honolulu, quite suddenly her boss offered her an opportunity to make a serious step up in the company. It meant a huge increase in responsibility and a correspondingly huge increase in salary. The only problem was that it also involved her working in—and moving to—Los Angeles. I could tell she was as torn apart as Jake was by the situation. I know the two of them talked for seemingly endless hours about the situation. In the end, though, she went ahead and made the move to the mainland. Jake had encouraged her to take the opportunity and go with it.

Jake was left behind with a broken heart. I really thought she was going to be the one for him. I have no doubt, had she remained in Honolulu, that she would have been the one—the woman that Jake married and settled down with.

He had earned the right to feel down, since the rug had been pulled out from under his feet. I let him mourn what might have been, and I felt bad right along with him. I was also there for him as much as possible to try to keep him from slipping totally into a blue funk. I took him out to dinner and spent lots of hours sitting with him and letting him talk. And wouldn’t you know it, but just when Jake was hurting and down, my life took an unexpected turn in exactly the opposite direction.

A couple of months after Jess left, Jake hesitantly started to date a little, and then he met someone he seemed to like. They had been seeing each other off and on for several weeks by the time I finally got to meet her.

When I finally did meet his new girlfriend, it didn’t go well. The meeting happened in our room. I was home from work and was getting ready to head to campus for a class. Since I’d sweat a fair amount that morning, I took a quick shower. With a towel over my head to dry my hair, I walked back into the main room… and heard a scream. Not just a scream, a female scream. I think every sphincter I had slammed shut as adrenaline flooded my body. Quickly dropping the towel so that I could, one, cover myself, and two, see who the hell was screaming, I identified the source of the scream.

Sure enough, there was a female in my apartment.

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