Free A Soul Mate's Promise by Robin H Soprano

he says, “Good. Now breathe nice and slow. Good. Deep breaths. Come on, do it with me, Gracie. Breathe. Keep your eyes on me–I’m here. That’s it. Keep going. One more deep breath. Good. Better?”
     
    I keep my eyes on his and my body relaxes and my breathing straightens out. Maybe I can beat this awful stuff.
    “Yes,” I whisper, “better, thank you. How did you know to do that?”
    He shrugs and shakes his head, then wraps me in his arms.
    “You don’t need those meds to calm you. You just need your heart and soul to be whole again. Can you promise me something?” He lifts my chin to tilt my face up to his and nods toward the prescription bottles.
    “Promise me that you won’t use these medications. I will help you. You need rebuilding not masking, and you have to promise me that you won’t talk to Richard again – at least not without your lawyer there. Listen to your lawyer. Capisce principessa? He says with a cute smirk.
    I nod, beginning to feel human again I almost smile. “Capisce!”
    “Good!” he says, then gives me a chaste kiss, scoops me up in his arms and puts me down on the bed. I’m giggling when he grabs my hand and looks closely at me. “Feeling better?”
    I’m tired from the emotion, the tears, the anger, but I do feel better. “Yes I am, thank you, Sal. That was really sweet what you did. If only Richard knew to do things like that, maybe our marriage would have turned out different. He hardly ever touched me.”
    Sal looks down at the floor and his lips form a thin line—then he lets out a big breath and lets go of my hands.
    “Don’t take this the wrong way, but, his loss is my gain!” Looking at me out the corner of his eye, he flashes me a sexy smile and wiggles his eyebrows up and down.
    I can’t keep a straight face and burst into a loud, gaspy fit of laughter.
    “Ah there it is,” he says. “There’s that contagious laugh of yours! Listen, why don’t you just relax for a while. I gotta go into town with Pop but why don’t I take you out later, get some dinner? Or a movie? What ever you want. I’d like to take you on a proper date, how’s that sound?”
    “That sounds great!” I say, thinking this day has been quite a roller coaster.
    “I’ll see you around 6 then?”
    I nod. “Sounds great,” I say, wondering if I’m crazy to let this thing between us grow.
    He bends down a little and gives me a good solid kiss before he heads down the stairs.
    “Thanks again for working on the lights and.. and, everything!”
    “My pleasure Gracie I’ll see you later.”
    *       *       *
     
    I go down to check on Toby who came in the house when Sal left. After a thorough petting and some Toby kisses, I ran back upstairs to call Celine. She answered quickly.
     
    “Hello, Darlin! What shakin?” she drawls. I smile.
    Like a teenager, I’m ready to rattle off my past two days. I fight the urge and take a breath and collapse on my bed.
    “Are you sitting down?” I begin. “Oh my god have I got news for you!” I tell Celine all about the drive into town, and lunch, then the kiss, and the dream, and everything else!
    “He’s taking me out tonight–dinner and stuff. I’m a little nervous, but in a good way. I swear it’s like we’ve known each other all along, he’s so familiar.”
    Celine is quiet for just about a second. “I KNEW IT!” she yells. I knew you were gonna turn his head. Now listen to me baby, don’t go thinkin’ too much, just try to have fun and let him put some spark back those eyes of yours. Remember, he’s got baggage, too. Did he ever tell you about any of it?”
    “No,” I answer, “but, I thought I’d bring that up at dinner before I go jumping into a romance.”
    Celine makes a tsk sound with her tongue. “What did I tell you? Just have fun–no strings!”
    “Celine, I told you, I can’t do that. That’s just not me. I’m just not that kind of person.”
    Celine exhales loudly. “I know, baby, I just