Except for the hum of the refrigerator, all was quiet in the kitchen of Leeza Madison’s sister’s house. The kids had gone to the zoo with their aunt, leaving Leeza alone for some time to think. She sat, staring at a piece of paper with a phone number scribbled across it. Three times she had picked up the phone to call, more out of curiosity than anger.
A couple of days ago, when she retrieved the messages off her home voicemail, she was unnerved by one from Catherine Parker, a woman out of Phil’s past whom he had not spoken to in nearly fifteen years. For a long time, it was a name and only a name, until she caught a glimpse of some pictures that Jeffrey had placed in an old shoebox.
Aside from the pictures, she vaguely remembered the stories that Jeffrey and Phil used to tell when talking of what fierce competitors they had been during their childhood. And from what she could recall, during their teen years, Catherine was considered the ultimate prize. But neither of them had brought her up in at least a decade, at least as far as she knew.
Now here was a message on their voicemail.
Why had she called? What did she want? She couldn’t possibly know that she had left Phil. Unless he had called her first. No, it didn’t sound like that. This was a person-from-the-past-trying-to-reestablish-contact kind of message. With a hi-remember-me flavor.
Leeza picked up the phone for the fourth time. Punched in the numbers. Felt nauseated, dirty. She spoke to the Energy Data Systems receptionist and was placed on hold.
A moment later, someone picked up the line. “This is Catherine.”
“Yes, hello, this is Leeza Madison, and you left a message on my voicemail.”
“A message…oh, that,” Catherine said, playing it out just a bit. “It’s already been returned.”
“It was. Oh,” Leeza said, unsure of what to say next. “By my husband?”
“Is Phillip Madison your husband?”
“Yes.”
“That’s who returned the call.”
“Do I know you?” Leeza asked, playing dumb, trying to prolong the conversation.
“We’ve never met. I’m…an old friend of Phil’s. I hadn’t spoken to him in years and I was going to be in Sacramento, so I thought he and I could get together.”
Get together, she replayed in her head. She got together with Phil. “Okay. Well, as long as you spoke to Phil…”
She was beginning to feel awkward, realizing that she never should have called her. It was a mistake. There was nothing to gain here. “Sorry to have bothered you.”
“Leeza, wait. Don’t hang up.” She paused for a second, then said, “I think you’re a very lucky woman.”
Leeza did not reply.
“I don’t mean to meddle in your personal business,” Catherine said, “but I feel that I have to tell you something. Woman to woman.”
Oh, here it comes. Her heart sank; she felt weak. She slept with him. That bast-
“Your husband’s very loyal to you. He loves you a great deal.”
“What do you mean? How do you-”
“I had dinner with him a couple of nights ago. I’d read in the paper that you’d left him. The press catches everything.” She paused; there was no response from Leeza. “Anyway, I don’t know if you know this, but Phil and I almost got married fifteen years ago. I left him for another man who turned out to be a shadow of the man Phil was-I mean, is. I have to admit that I wanted him back. And I tried my best-I put everything out on the table. But he wasn’t there for the taking, Leeza. Turned me down. I pushed, he retreated. Said that you were too important to him.”
Leeza was still silent. Another deafening second passed.
“Leeza, are you still there?”
She had not thought of all the things that could be happening to Phil while she was gone. He’d had dinner with an old girlfriend and she hadn’t even known. Had she been too quick to rush to judgment?
“Leeza?”
She cleared her throat. “Yes. Yes, I’m still here. Sorry. This has just caught me a little off guard.”
“Nothing happened between us. He wouldn’t allow it-not that I didn’t give it everything I had…”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“That’s a fair question, I guess.” She paused. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but if it was so terrible that you could never be comfortable with him again, then let him go. Let him get on with his life. You make your separation official, I can-” She stopped, as if gathering her thoughts. “Look, sorry to be so blunt, but I’ve had a miserable fifteen years. I made a bad decision a long time ago and I’ve tried to live with it and move on. But I’ve now got an opportunity to make right what’s been so wrong.”
“And that’s it?”
“Well, I care a great deal for Phil. He’s a special person. He’d do anything for those he loves. I don’t want to see him hurting so much. If my telling you this brings you two back together, then so be it. I hurt him very much a long time ago. This would be my way of making up for it.”
“I don’t know what to say, Catherine. I appreciate your candor.”
“Consider your situation very carefully, Leeza. Because I’ll be waiting.”
Leeza thanked her and hung up. She felt uneasy at the thought that this woman had made a pass at Phil-and he’d had dinner with her! What was he thinking? Anger mixed with guilt as her emotions swung back and forth like a pendulum.
What a strange, unnerving conversation.