Free My Body-His Marcello by Blakely Bennett

The
way he looked at me felt intrusive—not unlike Marcello’s hungry
regard.
    He reached out to
touch my back and I lurched away. “Please leave,” I
said.
    “ I’ve
seen you naked before, Jane. I’ve even touched you before and I
definitely felt mutual attraction between us.”
    “ That
is all true but the circumstances have changed. I’m still trying to
make sense of my life and have no interest in jumping into
something else.”
    “ Hmmm.
Okay, I see.” He jerked the curtain shut and left the
bathroom.
    “ What
the hell was that about,” I said to myself. I crouched down in the
tub and pulled my bag closer to the side of the shower. I took out
my toiletries and quickly finished washing myself.
    Christian had
made up the couch in my absence. I lay down, pulled the blanket
over me and quickly fell asleep.
    I dreamt I stood
in a black vault. There was an odd odor I couldn’t quite identify.
I had the sense that the room was spacious but I couldn’t be sure.
I felt around in front of me, trying to make out where the room
ended. My shins hit the edge of something hard. I reached down and
ran my fingers over a metal-framed cot. Moving slowly and
carefully, I lowered myself onto the mattress and lay down. I kept
my eyes wide open, hoping to detect a shred of light. The darkness
proved absolute. When I awoke from the dream it remained vivid but
I had no idea what it meant.
    I lay there for a
while as my current circumstances flooded back. What would I do?
Christian’s hospitality would come at a price; he had made that
clear. I didn’t want to get up but I knew I needed to make things
happen ASAP. First I needed a place to stay. Finding a job would
have to take second place. As I pondered the weight of my ruined
world, Christian came in through the back and said, “Good
morning.”
    “ How
did you sleep?” I said, pulling up the blanket to cover
me.
    “ Fine,
and you?” he said.
    “ I
slept hard. I’m trying to motivate myself to tackle all that needs
to be done today. I have to find a place to live. I want to swing
by the house and get more of my things and then get a job. Not too
much to tackle in a day,” I said, trying to manage a
smile.
    “ Well
you are free to stay here if you like and work on getting a job
first.”
    “ Thank
you,” I said. “Going to swing by the house and get my cellphone and
more clothes. I should be gone most of the day.”
    “ Okay
then, I’ll catch you later. Here’s my card if you need to
call.”
    “ I
really appreciate you putting me up.”
    “ Well,
yeah, okay. I need to get out into the shop and unload some
boxes.”
    I quickly
dressed, gathered up all my belongings, and left through the back
door.
    I trudged back to
our beach home. Sticking my house key in the lock, I couldn’t make
it turn. I was shocked. I couldn’t fathom how Luke had found the
time to have the locks changed before he left. I circled around and
tried the French doors, also locked. Sitting on the stoop in front
of the door, I held my head in my hands. What the hell was I going
to do now? I had to add buying a new cellphone to the
list.
    On a whim I
decided to swing around the house and see if I could find an
unlocked window.
    The window on the
back wall of my writing room was somewhat accessible. I found it
latched . Like the other s in the house, it was double-paned, with a lock mechanism
on the top of the bottom pane. I pulled up on several windows,
hoping one would budge. Using a nail file out of my backpack, I
tried to jimmy my writing room window and get it to dislodge, but
that proved futile.
    I needed to be
able to raise myself up enough to get through. Not wanting to break
any glass, I was at a loss as to how to get it to open otherwise.
Giving in, I stepped out onto the beach and found a few large and
small stones. I hauled them to the window. Then it occurred to me
that I could use one of the chairs out back so I carried that
around to the side of the house. Standing back from the