Waiting for a Miracle

Chapter 18

I sat on the couch for a little over two hours, waiting for Leona to return from her first patrol of the city as a hero. The longer I sat, the more miserable I became.

I could see how all of my plots had been cries for Miracle Man to notice me, to see me for who I was. But all along I’d been deluding myself. My final plot to get him back in the game would give him back the love of his life, which certainly wasn’t me, and I was forced to admit that my entire life had been built around the flimsiest of fantasies.

Worse, I had screwed up by giving in to my desires for Wallace. I could have tried to convince myself that I was happy to learn that he felt as much for me as I did for him. But I heard Wallace reminding me over and over that what I wanted was just another dream. I couldn’t be with him without jeopardizing his career, family and marriage. Even I wasn’t deluded enough to want that.

I was crying to myself when Leona walked in. She took one look at me and went to the kitchen as she began slipping off her bodysuit. I heard her mixing a drink, and she walked up to me with a glass.

She handed me the drink without a word and went to her room, her suit slung over her shoulder. She returned to the living dressed in her kimono robe and sat down at the other end of the couch, for the first time in a while giving me some space.

After several minutes in silence, she scooted across the couch and took my head in her hands, pulling me against her before she rubbed my shoulders.

“Something happened with Wallace,” she said.

“I kissed him,” I whispered.

Leona nodded. “Did he reject you?”

“No, he kissed me back.” I sniffed and raised a hand to rub my eyes. “In fact, he kissed me the way I’d always wanted Mir—Chet to kiss me. Then he told me that I couldn’t have him either.”

“Welcome to my world,” Leona said, continuing to rub my back.

I looked up at her apologetically. “I didn’t mean to whine at you about it, but Wallace made me realize how lonely I am.”

“That’s our lot in life,” Leona said. “We hang on to every bit of attention we can get, thinking that something is better than nothing. But it’s nothing like the real thing and there’s always something to remind us of that. Then those bits here and there don’t fulfill the need anymore, do they?”

I shook my head and sat up a bit to sip my drink. “I know one thing for certain. I don’t want to play the game anymore. This plot of mine now has only one goal, and that’s to get Chet and Vicky back together. After that, I’m going to quit whether this city has a hero or not.”

“Then what?” Leona asked.

Draining my drink, I lay back on the arm of the couch and patted my chest, feeling a little better as she lounged against me in her usual way. “Then the two of us will leave and find some place to enjoy a peaceful life without the game.”

“I wish I could believe that,” Leona whispered.

“I know that I kept beating around the bush by saying I would think about retiring, but I’m sure about this now. If I hadn’t promised Vicky that I’d help her, I’d be ready to leave today.” I patted her neck. “Why don’t you tell me about your first patrol? Did you kill anyone?”

Leona smiled as she shook her head. “No, but at times I felt like some of those jerks needed to die. I swear, it never ends out there. Every time I’d think about calling it a night, someone would rob a store a few blocks from me, or I’d have to stop yet another drive by. If this is a regular night for Wallace or Chet, I can see why they get tired of it. I’m ready to quit, and I didn’t even spend the whole night out there.”