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CHAPTER NINE:
MIAMI
Written by Rick
Archer
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EARLY AUGUST 2001
PLANNING MY MOVE
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Seeing Affair to Remember
had given rise to a powerful fantasy.
If Cary could persuade a beautiful woman
to change her mind, why not me?
Cary Grant was the guy
who used a cruise trip to sweep pretty Deborah Kerr
off her feet and make her forget about the
millionaire she was engaged to. Wouldn't it be
grand if I could pull off the same
trick?
Ironically, in real
life actor Cary
Grant
was well aware how his remarkable cinematic success with women was perceived
by mere mortals.
An interviewer once said to Grant, "I
think every
man
would like to be Cary Grant."
With a wink,
Grant replied, "So would I!"
I love that quote.
Only a superhero like Cary Grant could
be both modest and clever enough to say
something that sly. I definitely
got the message. There is a
difference between Hollywood and
Reality. My new-found optimism was
tempered by the fact that this was a
movie, not real life.
Nevertheless, I drew strength from the
story. What were the
chances my Cary Grant impersonation
would do the trick?
Obviously my studio chats with Marla had
failed to work. She was totally
oblivious. Fortunately the movie had restored my hope that
all was not lost.
My intuition
was absolutely convinced there was
something wrong with Marla's
relationship. If that was true,
then I owed it to myself to make a move.
How high was my
confidence? So-so. During my six months
of futility, I wouldn't say I was a stalker.
However, I had to admit there had been an
inordinate amount of wishful thinking.
Nevertheless I maintained a firm grip on
reality. Given her lack of interest, I had no right to expect my crush
would turn out the way I wished. So I set
my sights on a different goal. I intended
to ask Marla to explain her relationship.
I doubted I could pry Marla away from Chris, but
at the very least I wanted to end the debate
between my practical side and my intuition.
To do that, I needed Marla's input to set me
straight.
Praying for an opportunity to go one on one
sometime on the trip,
I made a
firm vow to seek Marla out and engage her in a
serious conversation.
I was
determined to get to the bottom of the ongoing
Boyfriend Mystery.
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The thing about
Intuition is that it senses things that
Reason misses.
But
lately my Reason was starting to
agree with my Instinct. There was
something fishy going on. Who dates
a woman of Marla's caliber for six years without moving on to
the next stage? Who lets a woman
with her looks take dance lessons alone?
Just the fact that comes to the studio
once a week BY HERSELF was a sign of loneliness.
Most of all, who is stupid enough to cut Marla loose
at sea? Clearly Chris had never
seen Affair to Remember.
There is an old saying, "The
Truth shall set you free."
My
instincts insisted this whole Chris thing was a
cover-up. But maybe I was wrong.
I don't know if I have the words to explain
this, but I will try. During college I began a
spiritual journey that took me deep into the world
of Mysticism. Over the past thirty years, I
had developed a firm belief that there is more
to this world than meets the eye. I based
this belief on a lifetime of unusual events that
I have described in my previous books.
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A basic
tenet of my Belief system is that Intuition is
the Voice of God. Twice in my life I had
bravely followed my Intuition on gambles.
Both times my courage was rewarded with
spectacular results. So here I am, Casey
at the bat, chasing a girl who shows no interest
in me strictly because my Intuition tells me to.
In other words, it is not
just Marla on the line, it is my belief
system. In other words, my entire view of
the world was being challenged by Marla's mystery.
Will I hit
a home run? Or will I strike out?
Driven by an
urgent need to know the truth, I made a vow
to find some way to isolate Marla and learn her
secret.
Even if her
answer was bad news, I could live with that.
My goal was to get my Intuition to stop driving
me crazy. If I could just learn the score,
I believed I could move on.
Otherwise I
would never be able get past this frustrating crush.
At some point, I would invite Marla to dance
with me. If a romantic dance at sea didn't grant me an audience,
nothing would. Assuming it was true what they say about sea
breezes and moonlit nights, if I could just get Marla alone, maybe she
would let down her guard and tell me what was really going on.
Chris had
the upper hand on land. However, my big
chance was right around the corner. If
ever there was a place where I would be at my
most confident, it would be
this cruise trip. The showdown was at
hand.
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Monday, August
6, 2001
THE PHONE CALL
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It was
Monday morning,
August 6. The cruise trip was 12 days away. At
10 am, I heard the phone ring in my office. Shocked to
discover it was Marla on the line, my pulse began to race.
This was too good to be true. Indeed, ever since
I watched the Cary Grant movie, things were finally looking up.
Clearly my luck had turned. Marla knew I existed after
all! At last.
"Rick, I
need your help. Chris sells insurance and he's
pretty good at it. Chris
just won a company-paid trip to Miami, so we leave in four days. Here is why I am calling. Chris
promised to take me to a Salsa club in Miami. I
know it is short notice, but I want a private lesson so
you can teach Chris how to dance to Salsa music.
Are you available to teach the lesson?"
What on
earth!?! Feeling stabbed in the heart, a searing
pain surged through me.
Marla's
sexy Miami getaway would take place one short week before
the cruise trip. March. April. May. June.
July. August. Six months of misguided obsession
over this woman had just blown up in my face.
How
could I have been so damn blind!?!
The utter cruelty
of the moment was devastating. Just when I
had reached
the conclusion Chris was hanging on by a thread, Marla's
request made it crystal clear the man was solidly in
the
picture. Not only that, Chris was even willing to
learn to dance.
It was brutal to get my hopes so high only
to be slapped senseless by this harsh turn of events.
I felt betrayed by my own mind. I had trusted my Intuition! How could I have
been so wrong?
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DAGGER
THROUGH MY HEART
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I swear I almost died of heartache. That is how
painful my disappointment was. I
was so upset over Marla's 'Miami' revelation, I could not respond.
Instead I just sat
there staring into space. Now that my hopes hopes had
been smashed to smithereens, there was no way in
hell I
would teach this lesson. Why beat my head
against the wall? I refused to teach Marla's boyfriend
how to dance Salsa. Why risk going insane with jealousy?
And what about my dignity? My
strong feelings for Marla were still a secret.
However they would not stay
hidden for long if the three of us were in a room
together. The vision of Marla in this guy's arms was
more than I could bear.
Meanwhile Marla had no idea what was wrong.
After a long silence of 15-20 seconds, Marla said,
"Rick, are you still there?"
I still had trouble speaking. This was it. This was the
end. Over the past
six months I had handled my crush without making a fool
of myself. Let's keep it that way.
Determined to
preserve what little pride I still possessed, I decided to turn Marla down.
"Uh, yes, Marla. Listen, I
apologize,
but I am not
much of a Salsa instructor. Let me recommend Martin.
He's on next week's cruise trip with us, so maybe you've met
him. Martin is a very popular Salsa instructor.
However, if Martin can't do it, try Linda instead."
After getting
both phone numbers, Marla said thanks and hung up.
And me? I didn't move
again for an hour. It was hard enough to have
my hopes go down the drain. But for the life
of me, I could not understand why my intuition had
failed me so badly. Right now I had never felt
more like a complete fool.
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