Secret Beach

"Michael!?" She said with a surprised look on her face.

"Hi" was all I said.

She stood staring at me for a moment and then briefly hugged me. Gail continued her tour of the house on her own. Allison and I stood awkwardly for a moment in the kitchen.

"This is a nice house." I stated, honestly. "I think we're interested."

She stood there looking at me, still confused at the situation. Finally she handed me the flier on the house and encouraged me to explore and ask any questions I may have.

I caught up with Gail in the backyard by the pool.

"I really like it, don't you?" Gail asked me.

"Do you know who the real estate agent is?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I noticed her as we walked in," she told me.

"You did? Why didn't you say something?" I asked.

"Because it really doesn't matter," she answered matter of factly, "now go get the details from her. In this market we need to move fast." She added.

I told Allison we were interested and we wanted to make an offer. I asked a few more questions and told her we wanted to move quickly.

As I said all this Allison just stared at me, not reacting to what I was saying.

"I'm a little surprised," she told me, not exactly a great sales response, "I didn't think you were interested in this type of house. You realize the asking price is," and then she held up the sheet with the price on it.

"I get it," I assured her. "We understand the price."

Once again she just stared at me trying to comprehend me wanting this luxurious house with a pool in this neighborhood.

"It's just that," she began, "this is the type of house I always wanted. It seemed like too much for you." She added, abandoning any sales skills she may have had.

"I apologize," I said neutrally, "when we were together, I always wanted this type of home too. The difference was I was willing to wait until it made sense. I knew I would get there. You and I just had different time tables."

She just stared at me comprehending what I told her. At that moment Gail, all six months pregnant of her, walked in.

"Nice to see you Allison," Gail said with little emotion, "now about the house," she began, pleasantries over, and then the discussion progressed.

Later after we began the process of the offer Gail and I took one more tour around the yard. As we walked back to the front and down the walkway towards the car I glanced in the large dining room window.

There, sitting at the dining room table face in her hands, shoulders shaking, tears streaming down her face, sat Allison. I could not help but think she was thinking about how different a life that could've been hers if she had just been patient.

It would have been far too cruel to tell her I told you so.

THE END

Note to readers: to some it may seem like a lack of severe revenge on Allison. (fairly severe toward Adrian). In some of my previous stories there have been far more blatant revenges. Including being fed to sharks, a couple of deadly construction site booby traps, being fed to Komodo Dragons, poison frog venom, a gypsy curse, kidnapped by a motorcycle gang, and being pushed off a cliff, and there are others too.

In this story the revenge is showing a life that the woman (Ali) could have had, and though less severe than some of my other stories, she has to live with her mistakes for the rest of her life. Maybe not immediately painful, but a long slow reminder of her errors.

One other thing: Secret Beach is a real place and if you ever get to Kauai it is a beach certainly worth checking out. The scenery can be spectacular, in more ways than one.