e-love (Chapter 8)

8

How Butchie saw and felt the world turning around him in these last 11 years and why he did what he did...

The Caribbean

Butchie slammed the door behind him and stopped in the foyer for a moment to rotate his neck and shoulders. Thank goodness that was over. He reached up and undid the buttons of his shirt, the soft expensive material just emphasizing his recent encounter. Clearly the woman in the lift had catalogued the cost of his outfit in one glance and moved in for the kill. Butchie frowned and shrugged out of the shirt, throwing it in the laundry as he walked past. The cold beer in the fridge beckoned him. He hated shallow women who wanted nothing but his money. He'd put up with ten years of such behavior and he was never putting up with it again. Okay, so he'd been a bit brusque with the woman in the lift, but honestly, what did she expect? He reached up to the cupboard to grab a glass, then decided against it. He lived alone, no one was going to know if he drank from the bottle. He wondered if Christina had emailed while he was at work. He made a mental note to check as soon as he'd taken off his boots and changed into more comfortable trousers.



Christina was extremely open and sincere, different and honest. Yet, he was aware of her previous relationship with a younger man and this disturbed him a bit because he thought that this was a dumb thing to do. As a man, he wouldn't consider dating a younger woman because they were all professionals, lawyers, doctors, too busy, too distant, and worked too hard and it was sort of like being anti-ethical going out with younger women with big boobs. His philosophy was of being someone realistic.

He had a past that was going to be part of her life future. She needed to know about it, too. She had to know, needed to know about his life, his ex-wives, his daughters, his PhD, his teaching, his intermittent drinking problems and inability to keep a job, his odd jobs and his work in that creepy, dark-looking, thick-glassed  building, for four years. He did what he thought and believed the best to do. He had made a difference to the world but had been used, ripped off and vandalized, even kind of raped. His life, his thoughts, his importance, his attitudes, his problems and being a public figure in the United States of America was part of him and were now, part of her.

Living in the Caribbean was a decision he took 10 years ago. He had to escape from all what he left behind. He had seen too much, done too much, suffered too much, forgotten too much but not forgiven.  People could be nasty and mean to you especially if you are brave and courageous. So, if you are seen as some kind of coward, you don't suffer, you don't get hurt. Therefore, he went away. He had to give up, keeping things bottled up inside of him for all these years, making him an angry, contentious and moody man that only wanted to tell the truth but wasn't able to.  He was considered one of America's most individualistic characters; he was his own person, a survivor, his past was his success, and his present was what he became, each day, one day, one hour at a time.

He was also considered a pariah.

How would Christina react to all this?



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