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Chad’s alarm started to wail at him sixty six minutes later, and he responded by groaning as he slowly got out of bed. He slowly strolled into the bathroom to relieve himself and straighten his hair out before leaving the suite. He was eager to not let his ex ruin what had been up to that point a very memorable vacation. What angered him most was the fact that she crashed his vacation without a care in the world. That had truly brought out the worst in Chad, and he felt ashamed by how out control he had become. The state of his living room was proof that Dr. Connors was correct about him needing to talk more about what had happened, just not with his very soon to be ex-wife of his. As he strolled through the lobby of his resort, Chad was relieved to see that Penelope hadn’t arrived yet. He wanted to take some time to catch his breath and cool down from the anger he was experiencing only a short time ago. Luckily for him, the couch he asked her to meet at was also empty, so he had the whole thing to himself. As he sat back into the soft piece of furniture, Chad hoped that Penelope would actually be fashionably late so that he would have more time to cool his jets. As he sat there brewing in his hostility, Chad couldn’t help but relive the argument he had with Paula. He was still shocked that she had spent so much money to fly out and get the papers signed as soon as possible. It’s not like he had room to criticize as he was also seeing other people since their separation, and he was beginning to realize why those relationships didn’t work out. He wasn’t ready to move on because he hadn’t dumped the baggage from the previous marriage. Until he did that, there was no way he was going to be able to have a healthy relationship with anyone, especially Rachel.
This wasn’t the way he wanted things to be, which was why Chad had decided right there on the couch that he would change the direction of his life forever. He had sat there in the middle of the lobby making decisions, and the Chad Barrington everyone else knew was going to change. It had to happen because the man he was right now wasn’t happy. He was always angry and lashing out at anyone that annoyed him or he thought had gotten into his way. That might have been beneficial for his work, but Chad didn’t want to be that way twenty-four hours a day. That was just unrealistic of him to keep up with.
It was while he was deep in thought when Penelope arrived and took a seat on the other couch across from him, much like how Frankie Junior had done the previous week. She sat there when her legs folded and with her elbows on her knees. They both stood there in silence, staring at one another.
“Hey,” Penelope said to break the silence.
“Hey you,” Chad replied, not too eager to talk.
“You look like someone put you through a ringer,” she observed.
“I’m sorry,” Chad apologized, “I just had an unexpected round with the ex-wife.”
“She called you?” Penelope asked, slightly surprised.
“Oh no,” Chad said, sitting up. “She’s showed up to chew me out in person.”
“She flew here just to pick a fight?” Penelope said, shocked.
“She needed me to sign some papers,” Chad informed her, “To make my divorce final in about thirty days. She’s made plans and my coming here put a wrench in that.”
“That must be huge for her to fly out here just for that,” Penelope said, “That couldn’t have been an easy conversation.”
“It wasn’t,” Chad confirmed, “Angry words were exchanged and even a few vases were tossed at the walls.”
“Oh my,” Penelope said, covering her mouth.
“Exactly,” Chad agreed, “Not my finest hour.”
“You look blue,” Penelope pointed out, “We don’t have to hang out today if you’re not up for it. But I can also tell; you need to talk to someone.”
“I do,” Chad confirmed, “But I don’t think it should be you. I’m Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Penelope understood, “As long as you do speak with someone.”
Chad and Penelope stood up and shared a hug.
“You give me a call if you’re feeling better later,” Penelope said, hoping they could reschedule their date.
“I’ll try,” Chad replied, but clearly he was lying. Sitting there and speaking to her reminded him of all the time he had spent with Rachel, and it reminded him how much he missed her and wanted to see the tough woman again. As he watched Penelope walk out of the resort, Chad knew that he needed to speak with someone, so he walked out of the back door to where the pool is located. He strolled past the pool and to the path the lead to the ocean. While he was walking about, he took out his cell and dialled a specific number. No one answered the call so he left a message with the voice mail, hoping the person would call back.
“Doctor Connors,” Chad started, “This is Chad Barrington. I know you’re probably working with a full slate of clients today, but if you have a moment I’d like to talk to you about something that happened over here. It probably won’t be what you think it is, but we’ll get into that later. If you could give me a call whenever you have a moment, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, and talk to you soon.”
Chad disconnected the line and since he didn’t expect to hear from the doctor for a while, so he chose to take a walk to the beach and do some more reflecting about what had happened that morning. He was about halfway down the path when his cell phone began to ring a lot sooner than Chad thought it might.
“Hello?” Chad answered once the line was opened.
“Mr. Barrington,” the other side replied, “This is Doctor Connors. I had a cancellation, so I decided to use this hour to speak with you. It will even count as one of your court ordered sessions.”
“Thanks for getting back to me,” Chad replied, feeling a little relieved, “I’ve had some ups and downs out here in paradise.”
“I heard about your encounter with an ultimate fighter,” the doctor said, even laughing again. “That was a very impressive move you made.”
Stolen story; please report.
“That actually turned out much better than I thought it would,” Chad said as he kept walking down the path while talking to his shrink.
He spent the better part of the next hour telling his doctor everything that had happened to him over the last several days. He’s told him about befriending the Andersons, especially Frankie Junior who was very close to how old Zachary might have been if he was still around. Chad was aware that hanging out with the little guy reminded him of what he had lost and what could have been. Then he spoke about the spider bite, as well as the incident with Rachel that Connors had already seen on video. Chad gave his doctor the whole story, about their first date, the wrestling match in the limo, the tour, all the way to Rachel and her mother staying overnight in his suite. He admitted to Connors that he liked her very much but understood that he can’t have a healthy relationship with her unless he can work through the baggage he was still carrying with Paula. He then told the doctor about Paula’s surprise visit and how they rehashed a lot of history, some of it for the very first time. Chad was hurt how she came all the way out there because he had already promised to sign them when he returned. It was almost as if Paula couldn’t stand the fact that he was having fun out here in paradise without her. Chad sat at the back of the beach, watching the many people out there as he kept talking to Connors who let him get a lot of this stuff off his chest without talking or judging him.
“You’ve done some serious growing out there Chad,” Connors finally said, “I’m proud of the steps you’ve made. You’ve got a lot more to do, but the ones you’ve admitted to here are not small but significant. I’m very proud of you.”
“Thanks,” Chad replied, “But I don’t feel like I’ve made that much progress.”
“That’s normal,” Connors added, “but from my point of view, you’ve managed to put others before yourself not let your anger for what happened get the best of you. The fact you want to have a relationship with Rachel, but realize you have issues that need resolving first indicates you like her so much that you don’t want to burden her with the baggage from your previous marriage. I’m confident that we can lighten that load with more therapy.”
“I would like to do that,” Chad told him, “Well beyond the court mandate if necessary. I want to make a commitment to do better for myself and for others.”
“Wow,” Connors replied, “Are you sure that spider wasn’t venomous?”
“Pretty sure,” Chad answered, “But it did hurt a lot.”
“You’ve been on quite an adventure,” Connors continued, “And it seems like you’ve done a lot of reflecting about what kind of person you are and the kind of man that you actually want to be.”
“That sounds about right,” Chad said, as he stopped walking away and started to walk back towards the resort.
“You don’t have to completely let go of Councillor Douche Bag,” Connors continued, “But that isn’t who you really are, you don’t have to be a douche bag twenty four hours a day. You can be yourself and that’s not a bad thing. You can be the gladiator in the courtroom as you called yourself during one of our sessions, but you don’t have to be like that at home when the day is done. Keeping up that kind of persona all the time would be exhausting and futile. Don’t deny the feelings you’re having Chad; this is amazing progress!”
“I’ll try my best,” Chad told him, “But the fight with Paula was more painful than fighting with Rachel in the limo.”
“I get that Chad, I do.” Connors continued, “What happened to Zachary was terrible. It’s ever parent’s worst nightmare to bury their offspring, especially when they are so young when it happens. Don’t bottle those up, let it out.”
“I think I’ve let enough out today, doc.” Chad confessed.
“Yes, you’re probably right,” Connors agreed, “But what I mean is don’t deny that you had them in the first place. Embrace them and use it to learn, to grow, and even evolve as a human being.”
“Man, that’s pretty deep.” Chad admitted.
“That’s why I get the big bucks,” Connors gloated, “I’m the Chad Barrington of my own profession.”
“Well, let’s not get carried away,” Chad replied, as they had a good laugh.
“You’ve made great progress, Mr. Barrington.” The doctor told him, “Perhaps you might want to quit while you’re ahead.”
“You mean head back early?” Chad asked, pondering the suggestion.
“The people you like hanging out with are gone,” Connors explained, “Perhaps you should head back and be closer to them here rather than stay so far away.”
“I’ll think about it,” Chad said, “And give it due consideration.”
“Sounds good,” Connors repeated, “I’ll call you again when I can.”
“Thank you,” Chad said again, appreciating the consult. “It meant a lot to me.”
“Progress was made,” Connors repeated, “Celebrate that, and cherish it.”
The line went dead soon after that, and Chad put the phone back into his pocket and started back down the beach the way he came. It took him the better part of twenty minutes to walk back to his resort, but when he did there was something different. There were flashing lights, which could only mean one thing. Chad rushed back to his resort and as he zipped into the lobby, he could see over a dozen police officers speak with the manager of the resort. As he slowly walked closer, the manager noticed him and ran over.
“Mr. Barrington!” he called out.
“Yes?” Chad replied, “Is everything all right?”
“We’ve had men looking for you the last hour.” The manager said, “The police was about to make a search grid.”
“What the hell for?” Chad replied, “I was taking a stroll by the beach and speaking to my therapist on the phone. I guess we lost track of time, but it was well worth it. He said I made a lot of progress.”
“Sir,” one of the officers started, “How long have you been out of your room?”
His room, Chad thought to himself. If anyone had seen the state Chad put it into after Paula left, it was no wonder that the police was called in to investigate. They had assumed someone attacked him in his room.
“I was gone almost two hours,” he replied, “Right after my ex wife left.”
“I’m sorry to tell you this,” The manager told him, “But while you were out, someone broke into your suite and vandalized it.”
“What?” Chad said, finding it hard to believe. “How was it vandalized?”
“Well, there was a lot of damage.” The manager started, “furniture turned over and even the television was smashed to pieces. The entire living room is in shambles!”
Chad did his best to look shocked to hear this, cover his mouth and looking just wiped out to hear the news. He turned to face the manager and put a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s just stuff, man.” Chad said to the manager. “The important part is that no one was physically harmed. Everything else can be replaced, right?”
“That’s right, Mr. Barrington.” The manager said, so impressed to hear him say that since he was worried the New York lawyer was going to threaten lawsuits again. “But what if they stole anything?”
“They can all be replaced,” Chad repeated, “We can’t.”
“I’m so sorry,” The manager said as he seemed on the verge of tears. “First you were attacked by a big spider...”
“Yeah,” Chad agreed, “that bugger was huge!”
“Then you were attacked by that woman.” The manager reminded him.
“We made up,” Chad updated him, “I even got her phone number.”
“Even after she ruined your suit?” the manager asked.
“It’s a just a suit,” Chad replied.
“No, it’s not!” The manager roared at him.
“Okay, you’re right, it’s not.” Chad conceded, “But I’d torch all of my Vanquish suits if I could have another date with her. She was amazing and I want to see her again when I’m ready to try again.”
“This had to be the worst vacation a person could have here!” the manager then declared, “We are so sorry about it.”
“Don’t be,” Chad said, refusing to accept defeat. “This trip was the exact opposite. I learned so much and met some amazing people. I’m not only going to recommend this place, but if I’m ever lucky enough to marry that amazing woman, Rachel and I are going to come back here for our Honeymoon.”
“That would be amazing,” The manager said, wiping away a tear.
“It would be my pleasure,” Chad said, “I look forward to it.”
“As would I,” the manager said, “You two looked much like a couple in the last few days she was here.”
“She is amazing,” Chad told him, “So soft and elegant, and then she could also break your nose if you piss her off too much.”
“That she could,” the manager agreed, “But that keeps you on your toes.”
“But she’s not here,” Chad suddenly observed.
“So, why are you?” the manager then asked.
“That’s a damn good question,” Chad replied, “I think it might be time for me to blow this pop stand.”