Operation Soulmate Read online

  She was just piecing together the evening’s events, when she slowly became aware of a weird feeling that something bad was about to happen, something to do with something that had happened the night before!! Through slightly screwed-up eyes, she suddenly noticed one of Ben’s trademarked, bright yellow, company folders on the dining-room table. It wasn't like Ben to leave confidential, coaching files lying around. He must be feeling a bit rough as well. She smiled to herself, glancing absent-mindedly at the beautifully designed package, but was suddenly struck by something alarming on the front cover!

  Geraldine Stanley

  - Operation Soulmate –

  She gasped and stiffened slightly, as memories of the night before came flooding back into her addled consciousness. She quickly grabbed the bewildering folder, and opened it up to find the first, typed and printed sheet: a coaching contract. She slumped into the nearest chair to take in the full meaning of what she was reading, as the evening’s events now came together quite quickly and completely.

  “Oh, noooooo. What have I gotten myself into now?” She whispered under her breath, hastily collecting herself and skimming through the mercifully short document, which read:

  I, Geraldine Stanley:

  Will cooperate fully during the coaching process, in order to bring about my complete and total happiness in the area of love and relationships

  I agree to work on other areas of my life, concurrently, including, demonstrating a willingness to improve my social life, and to work on changing the limiting beliefs I have about relationships in general.

  I will work with my coach, Ben Wright, in a way that is constructive, flexible, progressive and certain to help me to achieve better results in all areas of my life, and particularly in the area of loving partnerships.

  I agree to take full responsibility for my own process, to play full out and to complete all coaching tasks and assignments on time and to the best of my ability.

  Signed:

  Date:

  I, Ben Wright:

  Will bring the best of my knowledge and expertise to the attention and service of my client, Geraldine Stanley, in order to help her to progress in the area of love and relationships

  I will prepare resources, assignments and tasks, which will enrich and empower her to improve her life, overall, and help her to achieve her relationship goals in particular.

  I will guide her through the coaching process with sensitivity and a positive and encouraging attitude.

  I assure her of my complete confidentiality, at all times, in all matters concerning her coaching process.

  Signed: B. Wright

  Date: 30/08/2015

  Geraldine hastily turned the next page and found:

  Possible meeting places for Geraldine to find a suitable match:

  Seminars

  Talks on spirituality

  Bookshops

  Workshops

  Libraries

  Discussion groups

  Book groups

  Meditation groups

  Retreats

  Courses

  Health spas

  Festivals...

  The list went on and on, and on, but she was feeling too ill to look at it properly, or to read more than the first few suggestions, and a part of her was still wondering what "playing full out" would mean in practice. It was certainly food for thought. Ben had always told her that a woman like her was unlikely to meet the kind of man she was looking for in a nightclub or at the gym, and that she was far too spiritual, cultured and sophisticated for what he called the ‘club-rats and posers.’

  “Morning!” he said, marching into the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up. Geraldine starred at him through the general aura of positivity, audacity and charisma he always seemed to exude. What was he on? He’d probably been up since five or six. How did he do it?

  “Hmmm,” Geraldine moaned, reaching for her head once again.

  “Oh dear.” he said, smiling and grimacing sympathetically.

  “Mmmmmm,” She managed, smiling back, fairly unconvincingly.

  “I’m just off to meet a client in Brighton, insists on meeting face-to-face”

  “Mrs Y?”

  “Yep.” Ben grabbed his keys and was at the door before she’d even had a chance to look at him properly. He seemed even chirpier than usual for some reason. “Don’t wait up,” he said, reaching for the doorknob.

  “Ben,” she said, calling out after him, just as he was about to slam the door shut. He opened it up again and peeped in at her.

  “Yep”

  “Are you really serious about all this, I mean, is this for real?” She said holding up the yellow folder.

  “Oh yeah...” He said, staring at her penetratingly for a second or two, before closing the door quietly behind him and leaving her to think it through.

  “Okay then... bye...” she said, waving sardonically at the empty doorway. This certainly seemed to her like something that was worth sticking around for five minutes to discuss in the cold light of day! But Ben clearly had other things on his mind. She sighed and stared at the tidy coffee table. Just when had he found time to tidy up?! Just as she was about to settle into a nice, peaceful day at home, recovering from what was, now, almost certainly a hangover, she heard Ben’s key in the lock again.

  “Oh, and remember to keep Sunday free...” he said, grabbing his phone and audio books from the table and making another dash for the door.

  “Huh, what, why??!”.

  “Page four.” He said, before dashing out...again...

  Geraldine sighed and turned to page four of the coaching manual. It was a photocopy of a flyer for an event the following Sunday.

  AWAKEN YOUR DESIRE!!!!

  The leaflet almost screamed at her. Obviously a coaching or positive-thinking seminar run by someone Ben rated in the industry. Well he had said he was going to encourage her to expand her social circle, and he obviously thought seminars were a good place for her to meet like-minded men. She turned over to the next sheet to see what on earth would be on page five. Thankfully, there wasn’t a page five, just three tickets to the event and a post-it note that simply read:

  Hey G,

  This is your first assignment.

  Don’t worry I’ll be coming with you. Bring a female friend.

  I’ll explain later. B x

  She slumped into the sofa and drummed her fingers on its arm, as she waited for Brogan to answer her phone. Where was Brogan when you really needed her? Probably deep conditioning again, or finger detangling, or plaiting her excessively pampered hair away for a braid-out, or watching natural hair porn on Youtube. Why was she so obsessed with her hair!!!? And why wasn’t she answering her phone!!!? Brogan was the one person she knew who would, absolutely, know just what to say about a situation like this. Oh, she’d be shocked at first, then philosophically positive, then really, really happy for her. She was the one person who could make it all seem not so crazy at all, and at that precise moment, that was exactly what Geraldine needed.

  Two litres of water later, she was feeling at least capable of walking without holding her head on, and she could now face the kitchen in all its garish, brightly-lit brilliance. She reached for her angel essence, and gave her aura a good drenching to clear the fogginess. At least she could see a few orbs again, now. No drinking tonight. Not on a night before work. In her mind’s eye, she could sense one of her guides smiling, and an inspired thought quickly popped into her head that, perhaps, not drinking at all would be far easier than going through this intensive cleansing ritual every time she had a few too many glasses of wine.

  “Sure,” she said to one of the dancing orbs, "You try living down here without alcohol, see how far it gets you." She thought she heard laughter for a second, and then, all at once, she was enveloped in that beautiful, warm feeling of love and acceptance, and somehow found herself quickly deciding that she didn’t actually like drinking that much anyway, and it was probably time to have a go at that, long-promi
sed, meditation.... She searched through her collection of CDs, quickly deciding on a guided meditation. It was probably not a good idea to take her chances wandering through the astral plane without clear directions on a day like this. She tried to relax to the soothing, sounds of a crystal lake, but it just wasn’t happening. Half way through, she realised that she’d spent the first ten minutes of her meditation thinking about what had happened the night before, and wondering what Ben really thought of her. This was not meditation!! She stopped the CD, just as she was being instructed to ask her Angel if there was a message for her and it suddenly dawned on her that she was feeling unusually tense, had no idea how she’d even arrived at the Angelic kingdom and certainly wasn’t in a 'messages' kind of place, just yet.

  She took a deep breath and tried to put all thoughts of Ben and Operation Soulmate to the back of her mind. Then, when she felt sure she was ready, she pressed the little button on the CD player and began the whole process again.

  She tried, again, to relax to the soothing sounds of the crystal lake, and this time she certainly felt more relaxed. Until, of course, fifteen minutes into the meditation, she realised that she’d spent the entire time thinking about Operation Soulmate - How would it work? Would it work? What would she have to do? What else would she have to share with Ben? What kind of guys would she meet and how would it feel picking over all the intimate details of her personal life with BEN!!!? She stopped the CD for a second time, took a few more deep breaths to really centre herself and, finally, pressed the button, feeling she was truly ready to let go. Just as she was about to ask her Guardian Angel about Operation Soulmate, the phone rang and she almost leapt out of her chair to grab it. Brogan, finally!!

  “Oh, my God!!” She said without any of the usual greetings, introductions or pre-amble.

  “You ‘kay darlin’? Sorry, I couldn’t get the phone before, I was doing a reading.’” Of course! Brogan always worked on Thursdays; she’d completely forgotten.

  “Oh, right, I forgot you were in today. I thought you were deep-conditioning again."

  "Haha. No, that's tomorrow hon. "

  Geraldine laughed out loud.

  "Hon, it's not a laughing matter. My hair has been bleached, tortured and coloured to within an inch of existence; I have to baby my ends!"

  Geraldine sighed and shook her head. "Can you talk for a minute?”

  “Yeah but only for a minute Hon, got another reading at two.”

  “Okay, I’ll be brief,”

  “Oh God, what’s happening?” Brogan could hear the infectious excitement/shock/suspense combination in Geraldine’s voice, that usually meant big news.

  “You are not going to believe this...Ben has offered to coach me into finding the man of my dreams...my twin flame!!!!”

  “No way!! What, you mean "Ben", Ben? Your super-coach flatmate Ben, right, not some random, Ben wannabe, who also happens to be called Ben?”

  “No! Yes, Ben Ben..........I mean yes, my super-coach flatmate, Ben.”

  “Oh my God, you, lucky, lucky thing! Darlin’ that’s wicked!! How did that little plan come about?”

  “It’s just too much to go into now, there’s more to it than that...it’s complicated...”

  “I don’t care how complicated it is darlin’ you’re gonna let him do it, right? You’d be mad not to!”

  “Okay, it’s not quite as simple as that. Brogan, you are not going to believe the rest of it.... the rest of ...the deal....Brogan!!!??? Are you even listening to me??!!” Geraldine could hear Brogan speaking to someone in the background.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be with you in a minute.” She was saying, probably to a customer, before quickly returning her attention to the matter at hand, “Hon, I’m going to have to call you back, listen, meet me for a drink, in town, after work.” Geraldine cringed. Why did people who loved ‘town’ always make that sound so easy? Geraldine was in no fit state for Central London! As it was, she was going to have to spend, at least, the rest of the evening putting herself back together again, before she could face tomorrow’s tube journey or even look at another pack of tarot cards, and she needed to be ready for work the next day. Probably best to stick with the Angel cards for a couple of days. “Listen darlin’ I'll call you back after work. I have to go, sorry, hon.”

  Geraldine decided to forget about her meditation for a while. She was too churned up to relax, now, and speaking to Brogan hadn’t helped with that at all! She’d been so excited, on her behalf, it had just made her feel even more nervous. She was right about one thing, though, she would be mad to pass up an opportunity like this. Ben was booked solidly for months, probably years to come. He was very frugal with his time when it came to most people, and, yet, here he was offering to not only to coach her, but to take time to come out to events with her as well! He was making it all so easy for her, how could she possibly refuse? Inspired and reassured by the normalising effect of the conversation with Brogan, she reached for a pen and quickly signed the agreement before she had time to change her mind, hastily putting all thoughts of ever having to end up marrying Ben, safely to the back of it.

  “So,” She sighed, into the empty room, somewhat nervously, “Let the games begin...”

  Later that evening, when Brogan called back, she decided to play down the other (Ben- marrying) aspect of the coaching deal, and concentrate, instead, on the details around how it all came about and how she thought Ben was bound to make a relationship success of even a hopeless case like her. Brogan hung on her every word and quickly bagged herself a place at the seminar, as the unspecified "female friend".

  All of Geraldine’s friends loved Ben, but somehow, he was mysteriously not any of their type. They all said he had an air about him, psychically, as if he already belonged to someone else. Geraldine, however, knew that what they were probably picking up on was the fact that Ben was still having a really hard time moving on after his divorce. In fact, there were times when she couldn’t help wondering whether, perhaps on some level, he was still in love with his ex-wife and secretly hoping for a reconciliation. He was certainly saving himself for someone, and without knowing the specifics of who or why, this seemed to be the one point on which everyone could safely agree.

  Chapter 4

  When Sunday finally arrived, Brogan could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of spending an entire day surrounded by coaching hotties. Geraldine wasn’t sure at this stage why she needed to bring a friend, but she was certainly glad to have one around at a time like this.

  “So where do we start?” she asked Ben, as they stood just outside the hotel, before venturing in to register for the seminar.

  Ben slipped quickly and seamlessly into coaching mode, “Okay,” he said, suddenly animated by the thrill of the quest. “The registering and the tea-breaks are the most important times for social interaction,” he said, rolling up his sleeves and running his hands through his hair a couple of times, for good measure. “At lunchtime, people tend to leave the building and go to different cafes and various other places to eat lunch. Your best opportunities come when everyone is here, together...mingling.”

  “Wow...I love this!!!” said Brogan, beaming from ear to ear and almost literally jumping for joy! She looked as if she might start taking notes at any minute. Just the idea that there might actually be a tried and tested, common-sense strategy for meeting the man of your dreams was something that thrilled her beyond all previous expectations of being thrilled. Ben continued enthusiastically. “The only people left hanging around at lunchtime will be people with packed lunches and eating disorders. Get out of the building, there’s nothing here for you at lunchtime. Trust me; this is your optimum time. Brogan couldn’t understand what was wrong with packed lunches but Ben was onto it, before she even opened her mouth.

  “Sad fact ladies, but the majority of men with packed lunches have wives or girlfriends at home who made them. Yes, even in this day and age, I know, it’s horrible. Embrace it, and steer clear. All dec
ent, self-respecting, single guys with normal appetites will have left the building within five minutes of the lunchtime announcement. Be gone before they leave.”

  They both listened, entranced, but Brogan wasn't completely satisfied. “But what about if a guy wants to ask you to go out to lunch with him and you’ve already left the building???” Ben grimaced slightly.

  “Do not go to lunch with a man you’ve just met at a seminar, in a seminar lunch-break. At lunch, you’ll talk about the seminar and the seminar principles and the great things you’re learning at the seminar. And although he'll think you very clever, and very nice, in his mind you will forever be, ‘the woman I had lunch with at that seminar.’ It will never go any further than that. Seminar-talk is like romance kryptonite. Keep your feminine mystique. Keep the mystery alive and try to remember, a daytime date is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. A seminar lunch will catapult you swiftly and firmly into the female-friend-zone.”

  “Wow,” said Brogan, “You’ve totally blown my mind already and we haven’t even started yet...”

  “Okay,” He said, looking at a somewhat dazed Geraldine. She couldn’t believe this was Ben. He was so ...different when he was working....So... in charge...and impassioned!

  “Gerry, you need to be with Brogan because no one will approach you if you’re with me. However, you’re going to need to break away from her every now and again to make yourself even more approachable. Guys find it a lot easier to approach one woman than a group...even a ‘group’, of two. Okay, let’s establish some hand signals.” He put his hands together and then pulled them apart quickly. “If you see me do that it means: it’s time to separate, an interesting prospect wants to approach you.”