Jacob took his dinner onto the patio. He didn’t want to miss her if she walked along the beach that afternoon. It was quiet along that stretch of the beach. He allowed his mind to wander as he ate his dinner.
His house phone ringing interrupted his dinner. Why is Carla calling me? Jacob spoke with his daughter on the weekends and never during the week.
“Dad, I had a dream about you last night.”
“Was it a bad dream?”
“No, I do not think so. This morning all I could remember that it was about you. Are you okay?”
“Carla, I am fine. If you can not remember the dream, what made you call?”
“There was something about the dream, but I can not put my finger on what is troubling me. So I had to hear your voice. Sorry I did not mean to upset you.”
“Honey, I am not upset. I am trying to understand why the dream bothered you.”
“Dad, is there someone new in your Life?”
Jacob thought of the woman on the beach the night. But he couldn’t say she was in his life. He laughed. “Do you have someone in mind for me?”
“Funny Dad, oh I remember you were walking away with a woman, and you never looked back.”
“Honey, I am not sure what the dream was telling you. But I would never walk away from you. You are stuck with me for all of your life.”
Carla laughed, “Now you make me sound silly.”
“That was not my intent. Dreams usually point to something or someone. I do not believe in coincidences, I saw a woman on the beach night before last, and it continues to feel as if I know her. Was the woman in your dream black?”
“I could only see the shape of the woman. Nothing else. Dad, are you interested in knowing the black woman? Do you like black women?”
“I do not know the woman I saw on the beach.” Jacob refused to answer Carla’s second question. A quick goodbye and a cold dinner. Jacob sat with the phone still in his hand.
Why am I interested in this woman? That was the question Paul had asked earlier. Jacob sat staring into the ocean. Dusk had taken over, and there were few people on the beach.
Is Carla’s dream and the woman on the beach connected?
A tap on his door brought Jacob out of his musings. Paul stood at the door. Jacob opened the door and laughed. “So you happened to be out this time of night?”
“No, I wanted to talk with you about what is going on with you.”
“Not sure what you mean.”
“Really! I asked you about that woman, and you pretended to not know what I was talking about. Then you tell Carla about her, but not me.”
“Wait, you spoke with my daughter.”
“Yes, Carla called me after she spoke with you. She is concerned about you. She thought I would know if there was someone in your life.”
Jacob stared at Paul. “I think you need to go home and get rest. You and I have been friends since elementary school, but you don’t know everything about me and I don’t know everything about you. Right now you sound like a jealous lover.”
“I can’t believe you would say that to me. I’m not gay.”
“Well, listen to yourself. You are upset about a woman I have only seen once. You have seen her twice. What is that about? Have you always only wanted me to be with you? From the first day, you had problems with Shawn. Now I think about it you were in the middle of most of our problems over the twenty years we were together. Did you jump for joy when she died?”
“How can you say these things?”
“I’m trying to make sense of your behavior. I think you need to leave.”
“I’ll leave, but I will sort this out.”
“There is no this.”
“Oh yes, there is, and that woman is at the center.”