Love on the Edge of Time

by Julie A. Richman

  “Okay, Kylie, I’m going to count to three and at three, you will be back here in my office. One…two…three,” she rushed through it, needing Kylie to leave Rachel far in the past, immediately.

  Kylie sat there, very still, not removing the RGB glasses.

  “I don’t know,” she began, “if I ever want to do another one of these things again.” Reaching over to the side table, she grabbed a tissue and blew her nose loudly. “Oh, my God, they crucified him,” she screamed. “They fucking crucified him. That is freaking insane. Oh, my God, that poor sweet man. He only wanted to bring good to the world. Why am I seeing those I loved killed so barbarically? And why are my lives so tragically painful?” Putting her face in her hands for a moment, her shoulders heaved, before she finally sat back, her face wet with tears. “That hurt so much.”

  Finally, she removed the glasses. With a small gasp, her brows knit together and her back tensed and straightened. Silently, she stared at her doctor. The tension in the room thick. “Claire, you have the same eyes as that Roman guard. You and Cassius Petronius have the same exact eyes.” The fear in her voice was audible as she voiced her revelation.

  Patient: Kylie Martin

  Session # 83

  Date: 7/7/15

  Regression # 19

  Regression Length: 10:15 A.M. – 10:36 A.M.

  Entity: Rachel

  Location: Israel

  Year: 1st Century AD

  ***NOTE: PULL JESSE WINSLOW’S REGRESSION NOTES FROM DAVID BEN ABRAHAM REGRESSION

  ••••••

  Exiting the doctor’s office as quickly as she could, she needed to get away from her and the pain in that space. Kylie stood out in the hallway and leaned up against the wall thinking, Thank God, I’m going to Australia. I need a break from this shit. This is just too much to handle. Way too much. I can’t go through this again.

  ••••••

  Her hands were shaking when she hit the call button on her cell phone. “Hello, Marshall, it’s Claire Stoddard. I need to come in and see you. I know it’s not my regularly scheduled appointment. But this is somewhat of an emergency. Can I come in this afternoon?”

  ••••••

  “So, what are you going to do?” Marshall asked. “Are you going to share it with them?”

  “You know I can’t with HIPAA laws.” Claire shook her head.

  “Come on now, Claire. There are ways to get them the information. Perhaps suggest a joint session together. Ask probing questions to lead them to discover it on their own.”

  Marshall waited for Claire to answer, but she remained silent, clearly not happy with what her supervisor was recommending.

  “She could have already shared it with him and they both know.”

  “That might be true. I’ll know tomorrow when I do my Skype session with him. If he knows, it will be the first thing he says to me. She leaves for Australia tomorrow. I’m sure she is packing today. With their travel and time differences, I think they are mostly communicating via text.”

  “Putting HIPAA aside, why do I feel you are reticent about sharing this information with them?”

  “Well, we haven’t really corroborated the facts,” she began.

  “You don’t think her identification of Daniel, a skin disease she didn’t mention during her regression but had full knowledge of when questioned, and talk of a trip back to the Essenes to clear her lesions was enough? Oh, and Cassius Petronius, whom they both mentioned by name.”

  Claire shuddered. “She said I had his eyes.”

  “Whose eyes?” Marshall appeared confused.

  “She said I had Cassius Petronius’s eyes.”

  Removing his glasses and tapping the arm against his lips, he held her eye contact, “And?”

  “And I don’t know,” her voice became shrill. “Are you asking me if I was there? I don’t know.”

  “Have any of either of their regressions resonated with you?”

  Closing her eyes, she averted his stare.

  “Claire?” he pressed.

  “I don’t know. There have been a few times where I felt like I could see what they were describing and it was like I was seeing it from my own vantage point. But I’ve dismissed it as just trying to envision what they are seeing and describing to me in such detail.

  “You really need to acknowledge that you might be a part of all this and that they aren’t your patients merely by chance. Kylie calling you out the way she did after today’s regression, and you have mentioned that the two of you have somewhat of a contentious relationship. Add to that your feelings, although you continue to deny them, for Jesse, and I don’t think we’re looking at any coincidences here.”

  “Are you saying we’re some sort of cosmic love triangle?”

  “I don’t know about that, but I would not be surprised if there is some karma the three of you need to work out. I think that is at the root of why your feelings for him have always been so acute.”

  “I can’t believe she is Rachel.” Claire looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head.

  “Does that bother you?”

  “No, it just surprises me,” her tone was more than slightly defensive.

  “Why? Because he loved her?”

  Silently, Claire sat there.

  “You need to figure out a way to make this right, Claire. Suggest working together as a team, possibly. But if you decide to continue keeping it from them and let them discover it on their own, the outcome for all three of you will be a lot worse. You also really need to ask yourself what your motivations are, because I can assure you they are not all professional.”

  Without uttering a word to her supervisor, Claire stood and walked out of Marshall’s office.

  ••••••

  Rising early was not a problem for Claire as she preferred the early part of the day when the city was quiet. Often, she would run just after dawn, finding the cool air invigorating and the empty streets welcoming. This morning she didn’t go out for a run, instead she sat in her home office, coffee in an aluminum Yeti tumbler at her fingertips. Already up for three hours by the time she needed to initiate the Skype call to Jesse, she had reviewed every one of his and Kylie’s regressions, looking at them with a different eye than when they occurred. Now she questioned, could Gaius’s red-haired Julia have been Kylie; was Geneviève’s beloved brother, Bruno, in fact, Jesse? It was clear they had shared at least one past lifetime. David vowed to find Rachel again, and it appeared he had done just that. But the question was, how many times, Claire wondered.

  Opening her Skype app, she clicked on the avatar of Jesse to initiate the call.

  “Hey Doc,” he appeared, smiling.

  “Good morning.”

  “Afternoon here, already. Well, you look nice today.” Jesse commented on Claire’s deep V-neck, pale sea green silk blouse. “That is a great color for you.”

  “Thank you,” she smiled, knowing he was commenting on what he could see on his screen. “How is it going there?”

  “Amazing. Just the fact that it’s Abbey Road Studios is such an energy blast.”

  “I can imagine.” It was impossible not to smile at his enthusiasm. “Have you gotten a lot recorded?”

  “Yeah and written, too. Creative muse has been paying me a visit. It feels really good, Dr. S. Being able to enjoy the experience sober, I kinda feel like a kid experiencing things for the first time.”

  “Are you taking care of yourself? Sleeping and eating properly so that you can maintain this and not come crashing down.” She was concerned that maybe this was the manic phase.

  “You’d be so proud of me. I’m doing everything in moderation. Mostly, I’m just working hard. I need to make the most of my studio time. If I wasted this, it would be a crime. And I would really kick myself in the butt for doing that.”

  “Are you proud of you?”

  “Yes. I am,” he admitted with a smile.

  “I like seeing you this focused and celebrating your succes
ses. I want you to be realistic that there will be periods where maybe things aren’t flowing as well, it happens to everybody, and to make sure you have strategies in place to help pull you through.”

  “I know. I do need to be realistic. But right now, it’s just all so good. I feel like I’m on the right track from doing solo work to my relationship with Kylie.”

  “And how is that going with this separation?” Claire held her breath, knowing she would have her answer now, even though, based on his demeanor, she didn’t think Kylie had told him anything.

  “I’m getting more used to it than I was at the beginning. Plus, now that I’m in London and focused on everything in the studio, I’m so consumed, so I have less time to miss her. There are a million times a day that I wish I could share something with her or show her something, but I’m not sad about it, it feels healthy. With the time differences and working, me in the studio and her out on shoots, it’s nearly impossible to connect. So, we send each other long texts and it’s something to look forward to everyday. You know, it’s kind of like old-fashioned letter writing and it’s really cool. You learn so much about the other person and divulge so much about yourself through writing. Plus, we can send pictures from our day and stuff. I send audio of riffs I’m working on. So, even though we don’t get to talk live a lot, we’re communicating daily. It really helps fill the void.”

  “That sounds great,” Claire had to admit, knowing communication like that could help build a relationship. Breathing a sigh of relief, she knew neither of them would write something as important or lengthy as a regression, so that bullet had been dodged. At least for now. “Has she been able to say, ‘I love you’ back yet?” She couldn’t pass up the opportunity to surface that for him.

  “I don’t think that will happen until we’re at least in the same time zone,” he laughed.

  “Well, you seem to be doing well. How about we check in the same time next week and I’ll let you get back into the studio now.” She smiled at her client.

  “Sounds great. Talk to you next week.”

  “Have a good week,” she bid him before disconnecting.

  Sitting back in her chair, she crossed her long legs, pressing them together tightly, a small smile on her face. They hadn’t compared notes and the more time that went by, the chances that they would diminished. It would give her time to figure out exactly how she wanted to handle it.

  With a little laugh, she amused herself, as handling things was the most pressing issue she needed to deal with at the moment. Uncrossing her legs, she let her hand wander to the wet heat at their apex. She loved that Jesse liked her blouse and wondered what his reaction would have been to knowing the blouse was the only thing she was wearing on her entire body. Under it, there was no bra and her bottom half was totally bare. He was totally unaware that several times during their talk, she had reached down just to see how wet his face and voice were making her, and couldn’t resist the opportunity to give her clit a little swipe, sending shock waves through her body and getting an extra thrill by maintaining her composure on the screen.

  Was Marshall right about it all, she wondered? Was it possible that she, Jesse, and Kylie had been playing out some karmic love triangle for thousands of years. Could she have been Bruno’s lover, Mme. Michaud? Angered that he was giving himself to another man. Or Julia’s stepmother, who Marshall thought was Livia, grabbing for power and her stepdaughter’s handsome lover, Gaius? Certainly, she wouldn’t have been so hell bent on keeping David and Rachel apart that she had the man crucified. Or would she?

  Finding Kylie Martin to be an obnoxious, entitled, and yes, beautiful bitch, she had to admit there had been a rub between them right from the start. Claire was actually surprised that she had stayed on as a patient and not found someone else to treat her, but the truth was there were not that many Ivy League-trained MDs who were practicing hypnosis and regression analysis, so Kylie’s alternatives were limited. Claire recognized that they both had an amazing talent to get under one another’s skin, very quickly, as if they knew the key to the other’s pain points.

  Quickly pushing Kylie from her thoughts, she sat back in her chair and let her hand wander back between her legs. Smiling, she pictured the beautiful, clear grey-blue color of Jesse’s eyes on her Skype screen just minutes before, thinking how amazing it would be to stare into them while he was buried deep inside her.

  Chapter 16

  “Toots, it is so good to hear your voice.” Jesse opened the refrigerator in his kitchen, taking stock of the contents and realizing three weeks away left nothing that was edible.

  “I’ve got some bad news.” The cell connection was poor and she sounded a million miles away. Which she was.

  “Tell me, what’s going on?”

  “We just had two horrible days of torrential rain and we’re way behind on our shooting schedule.”

  “Oh, crap. When do you think you’ll be home?”

  “Come Hell or high water, I will be back for your showcase. But I might be missing the first thirty minutes, maybe a little more. Unless we have a major delay or I get caught in customs, I should be able to catch most of the show. I’m so sorry, Jess. So, save the best part until last, okay. I want to hear what you’ve been writing in London.”

  “Want me to have a car waiting for you to bring you there. I can have them drop you off at the club, take your luggage over to my place and leave it with my doorman?” He offered.

  “Yes. That would be awesome not to have to worry about my bags and just come straight to you.”

  “Consider it done.” He picked up a jar of peanut butter in the pantry and looked for an expiration date.

  She said something in return, but it was impossible to understand through the static.

  “Hey, Kylie, this connection sucks. Call me when you’re back to civilization. See you in a few days, babe.”

  ••••••

  Three acoustic guitars, a baby grand piano, a stool, a single mic, and multiple glasses of water were all that adorned the stage. Jesse Winslow’s return to music after the ill-fated final night of the Australian leg of the Winslow tour was a significantly scaled down version of any show the rocker had played in years. With a house capacity of only five hundred, tonight’s showcase was going to be intimate and personal. Fans felt that he was singing just to them in arenas, and tonight he would be doing just that.

  “How are you feeling? Are you ready?” Molly Stein, who handled his PR and earned every cent he paid her, usually the hard way, tentatively asked.

  “I can’t wait to get out there. Best high in the world.” He chuckled, “And this time I’ll actually enjoy and remember it.”

  “I can feel the buzz from the crowd. Even back here.” She peeked through the curtain to the front of the house.

  Jesse smiled at her. “Isn’t it amazing? You can actually feel energy. It’s like everything is vibrating faster. Please, tell the house manager to make sure when Kylie gets here that security escorts her right up front. I want her near the front of the stage on my left side.”

  “So, stage right, coming from the back of the floor?” She confirmed.

  “Yeah, exactly. I want her a little off-center. Make sure that is where security puts her.” In his mind’s eye, he knew exactly where he wanted to look to see her face and the crew needed to make sure that happened precisely as he instructed.

  “I’ll make sure he knows,” Molly promised.

  When the frenzy on the floor hit a feverish pitch, the house lights dimmed and the crowd went wild. A single spotlight followed a tall man to the microphone center stage.

  “How are you all doing tonight? I’m Johnny V from WNYC’s NightRock.” The crowd went wild. “This has got to be one of the most special shows I’ve ever introduced. He’s one of the biggest names in music, we’ve all seen him play stadiums and arenas, and tonight, for one night only, we get to enjoy an intimate evening of new and old favorites with the one, the only, possibly the sexiest man in rock ’n�
�� roll, Jesse Winslow.” He ended with a flourish and a second spotlight followed the infamous rocker to center stage where the two men quickly hugged before Johnny faded into the black.

  Bursting into raucous applause and cheering, the tone for the evening was set. The crowd had their boy back after months and months on hiatus and their love freely flowed to the front of the house, giving Jesse Winslow the most amazing charge.

  “You missed me?” He yelled out to his fans.

  A resounding ‘Yes’ and ‘We love you, Jesse’ shook the room and they were rewarded with his glorious smile, as he paced the stage, feral energy, pent up for months, shrouding the room, straight to the bar at the back of the floor, captivating all. Looking out at the crowd, he noticed on his right side, Dr. S. and the crew from L9. Scanning the left side, as he paced back in that direction, there was still no Kylie, but he knew it would take a while to get there from Kennedy airport.

  “So, as you probably already all know, I’ve taken some time off after a well-publicized, and very public, meltdown. Yeah, I kinda do things in a big way. But since that time, I’ve gotten sober.” The crowd cheered. “Thank you. I’m closing in on two hundred and seventy days here.” More cheers. “I’m not gonna lie, it’s been rough. But it’s been great and I’ve had some wonderful people at my side, helping me succeed.” He looked over to Claire and smiled, then nodded an acknowledgement to the L9 gang. Chuckling, he lifted his worn black tee-shirt showing the crowd his well-defined abs and a peek at the V disappearing into the top of his worn-out jeans, “So, you can see, I’ve gotten really healthy.” The women in the crowd were in a frenzy and he laughed at their reaction.

  Walking toward the back of the stage, he grabbed one of the acoustic guitars, wrapping the strap over his shoulder he plucked a few strings to check the tune on it, before making some minor adjustments.

  Approaching the mic, he took a moment and smiled at the audience. The women were digging their fingernails into the arms of their best friends standing next to them and sighing, “Look at him.”

  “So, since I’m here with a group of old friends tonight,” more cheers, “let’s start off with an old friend.” By the second chord the audience was going berserk.