A Royal Flush

by Libbie Richman

Overview

LISA KLEIN's marriage is dying, and it's a losing battle-complicated by an unexpected affair. While on a short trip to California, she gets in the way of a radical fan who tries to shoot rock star Yale Frye. Yale makes it out all right, while Lisa ends up shot. During her hospitalization, she meets the superstar, and their attachment grows into a romantic relationship. But Lisa can't just walk away from her marriage; she has to keep it together in order to shield her two sons.

However, once back home in Ohio, she realizes the damage between her and her husband Ronnie is irrevocable. Soon, their divorce is official. Not only does she lose her husband, but she loses the love and respect of her two sons, who take their father's side. Suddenly, Lisa is so very alone, seeking purpose and direction as a middle-aged divorcée. In an eff ort to recover her passion for life, Lisa writes a book. Surprisingly, the work is a success.

An even bigger surprise is to have Yale Frye back in her life. Yale is an artist, though, and not always solid support. Lisa can't fight the feelings she has for him, and as her career continues to rise, it seems her relationship with Yale begins to plummet. She's willing to bet high, and through tough times and times of joy, Lisa discovers her personal strength and realizes how far she will go to gamble on love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475941951
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/30/2012
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.85(d)

Read an Excerpt

A ROYAL FLUSH

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By Libbie Richman

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Libbie Richman
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-4195-1

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Chapter One

She felt delusional. She couldn't focus. Her mind kept wandering. She knew she was exhausted, but why was it so hard to concentrate? The driver in the limo had just said something about pulling over to let a fire engine go by. She felt anxious. She had been fine until today.

Lisa examined the book in her hand, and closed her eyes, remembering the last time she was in California, more than two years ago. She fell in love with superstar Yale Frye, and he with her. She never got over him, but returned home from L.A. to make a final effort to save her stagnant marriage. A marriage, that if nothing else, had given her two marvelous sons.

Leaving Yale Frye was one of the most difficult things she ever did. However, she was smart enough to realize if she walked away from the marriage, and her two teenage boys, without trying to salvage the relationship, she would leave with permanent doubts and guilt.

Her love affair with Yale was brief, by comparison, to the years of history with her husband. But Yale had given her, in their short time together, a sense of herself—her essence, and the realization that the life she had been leading, was not nearly enough to sustain her for the rest of her life. Yale had made her feel alive, really alive, and special in a way no one ever had before.

She was afraid of change and never denied it. But she was more afraid of her life meaning less, and being much less than she knew it could. She wasn't sure if it was stupidity or bravery that finally forced her hand. She asked Ronnie for a divorce.

Ronnie tried to talk her out of it. He was in love with her, and worse, very afraid of being alone and letting go of the dependency which he misinterpreted for bonding.

Traumatized for the last two years, it was only now that she was coming to terms with the realization that pain was often the price for change.

Her meeting with superstar Yale Frye was a consequence of her intervention when a member of a radical organization attempted to shoot him during a concert performance. Yale wasn't injured, however Lisa was shot during the struggle with the assailant holding the pistol. Her hospitalization led to her first meeting with the singer.

The following weeks, after the assassination attempt on Yale, Lisa had the opportunity to get to know him. When he took her to his Beverly Hills estate to recuperate, they fell in love.

Yale had never been the classic celebrity. He was not arrogant or egotistical. He was not selfish or self absorbed. And he was not a snob, like many who made it big.

Yale was charming, warm, sensitive, and gifted. He could grab and hold an audience as few other entertainers of his caliber. He had been able to sustain success in the competitive entertainment arena for over two decades without diminishing in popularity.

Lisa was lost in thought, in the back of the limo, on the way to her final book signing session, when the driver, a young man in his early twenties, commented, "Ms. Klein, I'd like to say, I really liked your book, "Run—Don't Walk." I recognized you from the picture on the back of the jacket. Although, I thought you'd be taller for some reason."

"Thank you," Lisa answered. "I'm glad you liked it. It's my first novel, you know. I still can't believe it's been on the best seller lists two months."

Lisa put her head back against the leather interior, closing her eyes again, proud that someone she'd never met before would take the time to tell her they liked her book. It meant a lot. It was what finally gave her independence, and a new meaningful identity. She finally believed in herself.

It had taken the last two years of hell and confusion to get her to this point. It had taken hard work, tears, frustration, pain, anger and determination. The voyage had been agonizing. The obstacles at times felt insurmountable. But she did it. She proved she could stand on her own, and she had something worthwhile to offer. The most difficult part was handling the guilt she felt in hurting and disrupting, so many lives in order to make a new life for herself. It was so hard admitting she'd inflicted pain as a result of her desperate need to be her own person.

When Lisa left the arms of Yale Frye to return to her husband and sons, Marc and Steve, it was their needs which forced her to return to her role of wife and mother. Guilt convinced her she had no alternative. Ronnie had given her an ultimatum. She was pushed into giving him a date when she'd be returning from L.A., back to where he felt she belonged. Her two sons were also constant reminders of her obligations and responsibilities.

Less than a month back in Canton Ohio, after leaving Yale Frye, she was convinced she couldn't go on living a charade any longer. She felt suffocated. She resented being stifled by other people's demands.

Any attempt on Ronnie's behalf to bring romance back into their lives ended in frustration for both of them. Ultimately, they chose to live as "friends," avoiding intimacy, hoping they could somehow rebuild, what was a failing relationship. They didn't quarrel, nor did they broach topics which could cause a disquieting atmosphere to the congeniality they maintained. They simply drifted further and further apart, until she couldn't live in the state of silent avoidance any longer.

As the limo hit a bump in the road now, Lisa's insides also reacted while she reflected on the turbulence which had dominated her from the time she first filed for divorce, to the time she moved out of her home. With terror, she left a safe life. A life of familiar things and sacred moments. What hurt so badly was that she cared about Ronnie, just not in the way he wanted. She loved her sons, but eventually they would go on to make lives for themselves. She needed to have a chance to find happiness for herself, and discover if it was something real and attainable, not just an illusion. Lisa knew if she didn't try when she was approaching forty, there would never be a right time.

Lisa was acutely aware she often acted on impulse. Therefore, she was careful not to make irreversible changes in her life without a great deal of deliberation and consideration. She was accustomed to her coexistence with Ronnie being less of a marriage than either of them wanted, but she was unable to live with the pretense that—"you made your bed, now lie in it". For a long time she had accepted her mundane existence without anger, but the taste of "honey" Yale Frye had placed on her dry palate evoked a new desire to rebel against the conventional- going nowhere lifestyle she hated.

It wasn't all her fault. And it wasn't all Ronnie's. Both had taken too much for granted, moving through the years with nonchalance and complacency, instead of attempting to keep the fires burning. Life was a pattern, and the style had become old. Desire to please became a chore. Nights were filled with isolation. Both felt lonely.

She and Ronnie had married at a young age. They were teenagers escaping the restrictions imposed by their parents. They ran away together, and played house, so as not to have to follow other people's directives. Lisa was more mature than Ronnie. She always had been. Therefore, she assumed the role of controller in their relationship. She handled the majority of responsibility, from the finances to the planned weekend get together with friends. She handled the meals, the shopping, and her job. Lisa maintained the nurturing, supportive role for more than two decades. It was only the last few years when she admitted she was sick of it. She was miserable and filled with resentment.

Ronnie liked their life. He couldn't comprehend why Lisa craved change. He was happy with the way things were, and pleased he had someone to take care of him, never feeling a need for deviance. He eventually blamed Lisa's affair with Yale Frye for the ruination of their marriage. He was willing to forgive Lisa for her brief affair, since he wasn't, and never had been, a very sexual person. He wanted a life with Lisa. He wanted them to stay together. He wanted them just to try a little harder to please each other. For a while Ronnie would bring her gifts, show more attention, and fake sexual desire to try and save their relationship. Lisa knew it was an effort—an honest one—but it was Ronnie trying to do what he thought Lisa might want, not Ronnie being honest with himself.

There was nothing harder than always being on guard; being afraid of doing something the other might not approve of, and trying to save what couldn't be saved. The effort was draining, and left a trail of anger. Ronnie became sacrificial ... Lisa felt guilty ... Ronnie promised to change ... Lisa didn't want him to change who he was for her. It was a sad, hopeless situation. There was no remedy. Both knew it, but only Lisa would admit it. Finally, she became the antagonist, asking out of the relationship.

After Ronnie capitulated, seeing he had no choice, the hardest thing for both of them was explaining to their boys that they were separating and parting permanently. They were getting divorced. Lisa, again, was designated to relate the situation to Marc and Steve.

It was near the end of dinner, on a rare night when they ate together as a family, when Lisa stated, "Boys, don't leave the table for a minute. I need to tell you something very important."

"Oh, oh," Marc voiced. "This sounds like an—I mean business talk."

"Marc, Steve, there is no easy way to say this. Dad and I are splitting up. We're getting divorced. We've discussed it. We aren't happy together anymore, so we are going to start separate lives."

"Boys," Ronnie said, his eyes filled with tears, "Mom is not happy. I'm agreeing, that's all. I don't want the divorce. I love mom. But she said she wants her freedom, and I'm too tired to keep fighting her. She's leaving us."

"Thanks Ronnie. I'm glad you put things in 'perspective' for our sons. Well boys, dad is right. I want my freedom from him, and our marriage. I am, and always will be, your mom. I'll be there for you any way I can. Always! We love you as we always have, and that will never change. We will just love you from separate houses."

The boys sat silently, unable to comprehend they were no longer going to be a family. She wanted to leave them. She wanted freedom. Dad said so. They must have been a real burden. "Mom," Steve said sharply, "I'm living here, in this house, with dad. I'm not going to live with you."

"Me either," Marc said, looking at his mother's dry eyes, while his fathers were overflowing. "You know mom, I think you're a spoiled 'Jap', who never appreciated dad anyway. He doesn't need you. He'll have us."

"I'm sorry boys. I love you. I always will. I realize that you can't understand all of this. I hope you know I'm always going to be your mom—"

"Sure!" Marc shouted, "You'll be a mom, when you feel like it; when you aren't busy being "free". Sorry, we kept you from being somewhere else. Well, if you want freedom, go ahead. But I thought you liked being our mom."

"I do, Marc. I love being your mom. I love being Steve's mom. I just can't be dad's wife anymore." What she almost said, was that she couldn't be dad's "mom" anymore, since that would have been more accurate. Brutal. But true. And Lisa didn't want to stoop to that.

"Well Marc," Steve said, "You were right about women. They're never happy."

"Stop it!" Lisa shouted. "I've been here all of your lives—for all of you, including dad. Don't judge me!"

"I hate you! I hate you!" Steve screamed, bursting into tears, and running from the table.

"Mom," Marc asked, with tears rolling down his face, "Maybe we can all try harder, so you'll be happy? Maybe we can do something so you'll change your mind? Maybe—"

"No, Marc. I'm sorry. I can't change my mind—"

"Bullshit!" Marc yelled. "You can change your mind! You just don't want to! You don't care enough about us—I hate you, too! You're selfish!" He, too, ran from the table.

"Well, I guess the boys want to stay here with you, Ronnie. It seems I've been elected to be the one to move out."

"Not if you change your mind, Lisa."

"I'll pack and be out by the end of the week, Ronnie. Thanks for 'helping' me tell the boys." She couldn't keep the sarcasm from her tone.

"Get fucked, bitch! You know, I've tried and tried and tried! Right now, even I hate you!" He, too, left the table. Lisa sat there, alone, surrounded by the dirty dishes, and leftover food she'd prepared earlier. Calmly, an hour later, she went and packed a suitcase, leaving the dinner dishes on the table, and left the house. She checked into a cheap motel, and spent the next five days looking for an apartment. When she checked out of the motel and handed her credit card to the cashier, she was told her card was not valid. Ronnie had closed their account. When she went to the bank, their joint savings account had been depleted leaving a five-dollar balance.

"Well, so much for friendly divorces," She had said to herself, as she drove her car to the apartment she'd rented. In the middle of that night she went to the house and took Ronnie's new car from the driveway. The next day she sold the car, in a neighborhood where crime was high, to a stranger, for twice what had been in their savings account. She then took a cab to her apartment and waited ten days in the ugly, cheaply, furnished brownstone before going to her house to get some of her belongings. When her key wouldn't open the doors, she realized Ronnie changed the locks. She broke a window, took a ladder from behind the garage, climbed in, and called an attorney for immediate help. He said, by law she shouldn't have broken in. He advised her to leave. She decided differently. She called a moving company that would be there within the hour.

When Ronnie came home and saw the moving van, he threatened to call the police. "Go ahead, asshole. It'll be the first thing you've ever done on your own!" He slapped her across the face. It was the first time he'd ever hit her in all the years they'd been together. "So Ronnie—this is what happens when love dies? Anything else you want to do, Ronnie? Go ahead. Well, Ronnie, why don't you go down the list of things I never appreciated? The things I took for granted—go ahead—if it makes it easier for you. It doesn't matter, Ronnie—I've lost my boys because of you! You love me so much that you sat at the table—not only watching me lose them—but helping me lose them. You are a schmuck, Ronnie. I despise you! Now—get the hell away from me! I'm only taking what's mine. My attorney will be in touch about the rest."

"You bitch! You dumb bitch! You don't know how good you had it!"

"Right, Ronnie! So good, I couldn't stay! Ronnie, get away from me, before I lose it."

"Well, that's nothing new for you—you sick bitch!"

"You should know—you're responsible for making me sick—you pathetic excuse for a man—who can't even get it up without playing with himself!"

"Go to hell, Lisa!"

"I've been in Hell—living with you! Don't you get it? I'm trying to get out!"

"Stop—Stop—" Marc and Steve yelled, watching the scene from the driveway. Lisa didn't know how long they had been there. She looked at her boys, and cried for the first time. "I'm sorry boys. Forgive me. Maybe, one day you'll understand."

She got in the car, and had the moving van follow her to the low-income apartment she was renting.

Ronnie didn't bother following her. He knew, then, it was over—really over for them—permanently.

Chapter Two

"Ms. Klein, are you alright?" The limo driver inquired as he waited for the red light to change. She had been lost in remembering, unaware tears were rolling down her face.

"Yes. I'm fine. Just nervous. My first book tour. Don't mind me."

Lisa put her head against the window and watched the morning rush hour traffic, feeling the weight of loss as she remembered how close she and her boys were until she left Ronnie. She missed the way they would confide in her, tease her, worry about her, and most of all—adore her. She wasn't sure if the lack of breakfast caused the sudden queasiness in her gut or the vividness of recollections she couldn't dispel.

She had lost the special relationship with Marc and Steve when she chose to fulfill herself outside of her confining marriage. A lousy tradeoff, losing what mattered most, to gain what matters most. There was no denying everything in life has a price. Maybe one day her sons would understand that everything is not black and white. Maybe, they'd realize how hard it was for her to leave the security of marriage, a spouse, a nice standard of living, friends, her home, her safe haven, and opt for freedom of soul and spirit. It had cost her the love of her sons, financial stability, a year of doubt, fear, agony, and apprehension. A year of struggling to survive monetarily, and working hours on her writing each night, to pursue a dream, her dream. A year of macaroni and cheese, and parents who called her 'crazy'. A year of sons who wrote short notes from school, once a month, and saw her only twice during that first year, for a short visit, unwilling to forgive her for breaking up their home.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from A ROYAL FLUSH by Libbie Richman Copyright © 2012 by Libbie Richman. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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