Novel by R.M. Dolin
The Dangling Conversation – TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Strangers in the Night – Isabelle invites herself to sit on the park bench Kyle’s staked out as his private sanctuary. She’s not only talkative but easily opens up about her life and how she’s proudly named after her great grandma who bravely fought with rebels against the Franco regime in the Spanish Civil War.
Chapter 2: Alternate Reality – Kyle assumes last night was a one-and-done affair but suddenly Murray, Isabelle’s puppy, is plopping down in his lap like he owns Kyle’s park bench. Without realizing it, Isabelle’s openness concerning her failed marriage and why she’s hiding from her Ex, has Kyle talking about his first marriage to Maggie and its painful ending. Kyle also mentions Nadia, the woman he’s loved for over twenty years.
Chapter 3: How Are You Happy – Kyle retells his Nadia story, only this time in more depth. Isabelle is upset by Kyle pressuring her to define happiness, it results in their first conflict conversation.
Chapter 4: Everybody’s Barcelona – Isabelle talks about Sergio, the aspiring chef she met while in college who believes everybody has a Barcelona; a place they can escape to where love is possible. Kyle and Isabelle debate whether such a place can exist.
Chapter 5: Sounds of Silence – Kyle reveals another layer of his Nadia story, detailing a painful episode after Nadia moves in with him but then one night, leaves without any explanation. Isabelle talks about her relationship with Henry, a man she’s recently started seeing who is not as engaged in their relationship as she needs.
Chapter 6: Damaged Goods – Isabelle painfully recalls how nearing graduation forces her to evaluate her future and regretfully deciding she and Sergio are not meant to last long term. Kyle attempts to explain why he rode his bicycle once from Barcelona, Spain to Milan, Italy.
Chapter 7: The Ghosts Within – Kyle’s been running from unresolved emotions for years and while cycling in the mountains of Milan they confront him. Isabelle talks about her great grandma and the family secret no one talks about. Kyle offers an equally plausible scenario with far more honorable outcomes.
Chapter 8: Tu versus Vous – Kyle challenges Isabelle to define her relationship with Henry. He talks about his current relationship with Nadia and his uncertainty about how things stand. He describes the bizarre way Nadia hides him from her world and why he tolerates it. Isabelle accuses Henry of being a shit who’s way too involved in his Ex’s life.
Chapter 9: Calculus of Causation – Kyle poses life and love in mathematical terms. Isabelle counters with her three phases of love theory and how people transcend through them in a relationship. She gets upset at Kyle’s Poets versus Novelist distinction because she sees herself as a Novelist but wants to be a Poet.
Chapter 10: Cognitive Dissonance – Kyle revels how he ended up on their park bench; he talks about his second wife Olivia but before he can finish her story, Isabelle hijacks the conversation to talk about the time she lures her stalker-Ex into a trap to blackmail him into leaving her alone.
Chapter 11: Last Look at Love – Kyle painfully finishes his Olivia-story detailing the tragic way things end and why it is he never talks about her. Caution – this story contains descriptions of depression and suicide.
Chapter 12: Color of Cold – Isabelle struggles to understand what to make of Henry’s ‘I Love You‘. She accuses Henry of being insincere but really, it’s more about her insecurities. Kyle attempts to put Henry’s position into context by telling a story from his youth when he and his cohort of romantics set out on a quest to rescue a damsel in distress.
Chapter 13: A Dream That Dies – Kyle reveals the real reason he’s been relegated to his park bench, detailing why he’s being scapegoated by Machiavellian bureaucrats at FDA. Isabelle relates Kyle’s story to similar troubles her dad experienced while she was in high school.
Chapter 14: My Year of Being Happy – Kyle tells Isabelle about the wonderful year he and Nadia spend in love; a year that brings him to the brink of being current in his Nadia story. Isabelle talks about how well things are going between her and Henry; that even though she’s decided to take her time it’s hard not to envision future outcomes.
Chapter 15: The Greater Fool Theory – Isabelle accuses Henry of being a shit because he invites her last minute to a family wedding she knows his Ex will attend. Kyle admits to being frustrated that Nadia ignores his repeated invitations to visit him in New Mexico. He describes his wilderness cabin and efforts to create a private Taj Mahal that will convince Nadia to come.
Chapter 16: Friends with Fate – Kyle worries over not seeing Isabelle for several days only to learn she had to go home in hurry because one of her best friends suddenly died. At the funeral Isabelle discovers her dead friend had taken up with Sergio. Kyle tells the story of Red, his best friend from high school who was tragically fated for a hard life and unfair death.
Chapter 17: Dillon’s Dichotomy – Kyle relates what happened to a prominent Los Alamos policy expert when he gets crosswise with nuclear industrial complex oligarchs as a way of highlighting the dangers he’s in with food & drug oligarchs. Isabelle contrasts what Henry would do in Kyle’s situation with what Sergio did do in a similar circumstance with Sergio emerging as more heroic.
Chapter 18: Is Love Possible – When Henry accepts a promotion requiring a move, Isabelle’s righteously upset and relates his leaving to Kyle abandoning Maggie for a job in DC. Once Kyle reveals the truth behind his Maggie story, Isabelle recants and asserts Karma’s causing Henry to walk out on her the same cold callous way she walked out on Sergio years ago.
Chapter 19: Window To My Darkness – As Kyle prepares to be arrested he warns Isabelle about how things will play out. She’s reminded of a painting she once saw that profoundly impacted her while Kyle defiantly asserts that if he were allowed a redo, he’d still do things the same because good needs the chance to triumph over evil.
Chapter 20: Say It Ain’t So – Isabelle’s concludes her relationship with Henry really is, really over but wonders if subconsciously she’s the one sabotaging things for possibilities with Sergio. She reflects on her parents’ dynamic as the source of her instability. Kyle finally starts to painfully accept his relationship with Nadia is in trouble and he questions if what they had, what he dreams they’ll have, is forever lost or is there hope it can recover?
Chapter 21: It Matters How Things End — It’s been a week since Kyle sent Nadia his heart-filled letter expressing unending love and asking for one thing, clarity. Now, with his arrest imminent, if he doesn’t get Nadia’s reply today, he likely never will because who knows where he’ll be renditioned. Meanwhile, Isabelle has finally made her decision regarding Henry and Sergio. As fate’s final sonata reaches its crescendo, Nadia’s letter arrives, now all that matters is holding off the Feds long enough to read it.
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