Rebecca Schwartz 05 - Other People's Skeletons

“Everybody ready?”
    Nods all around.
    “What’s the question?”
    I thought a minute. I could have asked about The Thing, but I was going to know the answer soon enough anyway. I said, “What should I do about my relationship with my boyfriend?”
    “Julio?” said Chris.
    I stared at her.
    She shrugged. “Well, you’ve been spending a lot of time with Rob lately. Also, you’re into trick questions.”
    “Julio.”
    They closed their eyes again.
    Chris opened hers first. “Marry him,” she said.
    “What?”
    “Just kidding. I don’t think I can do this because I know you so well and I’m crazy about Julio. I did get that, but I think it was simple envy talking.”
    Ivan said, “I’m getting a pun, I think. Is there anything we should know about Julio involving water?”
    “Well, he’s a marine biologist.”
    “Damn! That’s it. Okay, so the relationship is not necessarily ‘all wet,’ huh?”
    “I don’t know. It could be. We seem to have some insurmountable problems.”
    Rosalie said, “Let me take a shot. Rebecca, I know it seems like the problems are insurmountable, but I’m not sure that’s the case. I think you’ve been hurt by someone else, maybe you feel more or less betrayed, and Julio is a very warm person; a very giving person; and you love him for that. You need that. But right now I think you don’t realize how afraid you are that the same thing might happen with him that happened before. So you’re reluctant to get too involved and therefore the problems seem bigger than they really are. The thing is, the relationship is great for Julio for the same reason.
    “I like this guy. He’s a truly generous-hearted man. But he’s in the same place you are. Something bad happened to him— is he divorced?”
    “Yes.”
    “That’s it then. He hasn’t really gotten over the divorce.” She put up a hand. “Not the marriage. He’s over the marriage, he doesn’t want the ex-wife back, he just doesn’t want to make himself that vulnerable again. Yet. Now things could definitely change, just like with that book of yours, but he’s enjoying being with you partly because he thinks the problems are insurmountable, therefore he doesn’t have to make up his mind to be vulnerable again. Does that make any sense?”
    My stomach had done something, but I wasn’t sure what. Maybe it was one of those physical sensations Chris mentioned that aren’t really physical. Kind of a ping that wasn’t. It was something I got sometimes with certain clients I didn’t really trust. I got it when they were telling the truth.
    I nodded, unable to speak.
    “Tanesha?”
    “I like this guy. You did all right for yourself, Miss Becky.” I flinched— no one calls me Becky. “This is one fine dude. I get the feeling that down the line you two might work something out, but I don’t think the time’s right for now. Has marriage been mentioned?”
    “No. Nothing like that.” Not even living together.
    “You come from a family that expects a lot of you, don’t you?”
    I’d never thought of it like that, but I supposed it was true.
    “See, they expect a lot from you so you expect a lot of yourself. I get the feeling you think you’ve got to know where you’re going, with everything you do. You’ve got to have goals. Well, maybe you don’t right now. Maybe the best thing you could do in this situation is just relax and enjoy it. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s how I see it.”
    Moonblood said, “Yeah, I haven’t got anything to add. The guy’s good stuff, I guess we all agree on that. But I’m getting something weird, and the more I try to figure it out, the less sense it makes. So I’ll just tell you and see if it means anything. It’s the moon. Not a full moon, and not a crescent— sort of a half moon I guess you’d say.”
    “I— uh— no, I guess I can’t figure it out.” Secretly, I thought it had something to do with her name. “Do you get moons a lot?”
    “No, but I do get these real practical kinds of things. Really, really straightforward. That’s kind of my thing.”
    I shrugged. For the life of me, I couldn’t make it mean anything.
    Ivan said, “There’s another person here. Didn’t anyone see another person?”
    My heart fluttered.
    “Don’t worry, it’s not a rival. Nothing like that. Just someone Julio’s worried about; and you’re worried too. But you’re not worried about the person, you’re worried about yourself, how