This time, when I came back to the room, I opened up the closet, but I didn’t find any of her clothes. I panicked. Had someone kidnapped her? No, I told myself. She left me. But why? I’d thought we were getting along pretty darn good. But I guess I’d been wrong about her. She must have just wanted a free vacation. Then again, if that were true, why did she leave early? We still have three weeks of sun and sand left. If she was using me, wouldn’t she have held out for the rest of the trip? It couldn’t be that bad hanging around me, could it? I knew that at times, I could be a bit of an asshole, but I had tried to be sweet to her. I had protected her in the shark cage and helped her with surfing. I had even bought her a few trinkets for when we got home. She hadn’t known about them yet. I pulled them out and looked at them. “Why did you leave, Tiffany?” I said to the empty room. I don’t know why I did it, but I waited for an answer. As if some astral projection of Tiffany would come to me and give me the answer I longed to know.
I knew she had enjoyed every single bit of sex we’d had; there was no doubt in my mind about that. Her screams and quivering had all been real. This didn’t make a lick of sense to me. We hadn’t fought for a while, and we had gotten into a nice pattern – one that I had considered as something I wanted to possibly deal with for the rest of my life. I had decided to tell her I love her and that we needed to do this the right way. Or, if she was highly opposed to it, I would gladly just get to know her better. Like Landon had pointed out, if I loved her, I should just be happy the way we were.
“Ha, I was a fool,” I announced to my room. I must have done something wrong, though? I couldn’t let go of the back and forth thoughts. I wanted to be angry at her for running out on me. However, maybe it was something I hadn’t thought of that had caused it. I looked all over, throwing my clothes out of the dresser drawers, to see if she had left me a note. Nothing – that was what I found. That made me angry and sad at the same time. I felt a hole where she had been in my heart. I missed hearing her sweet voice and her melodic laughter. I longed to hear her moan again. I shook my head and laid down for a nap. I had to sleep; I would have to face everyone later tonight, without Tiffany. “How the hell am I going to explain it?” I wondered.
I had a little time to think of what lie to tell. Because I wasn’t going to tell everyone that she had left me. That was not acceptable. If I said that, the three piranhas would jump all over me. I knew it.
**
I had taken a very short nap. My dreams had given me a refresher course on my love life with Tiffany – namely how often we fucked, the different positions, and her moans. I woke up with a hard-on, and I wished she was here to help me with my problem. But along with that thought, my dick softened as I recalled how much I missed her.
“She had to go back to teach. Something about a family emergency for the sub, or not even explain it. I’ll think of the exact words later.” I practiced the lie and how to say it. I would be prepared to act like she had been called away, and I missed her, but our marriage was still good and happy. That was the game I hoped to pull off. As much attention as my parents paid to me, it should really be easy to pull off.
**
I sat across from my father. I hadn’t expected him to be drunk by the time I arrived. He ran his mouth more than normal with a few drinks in him. I’d thought he was an asshole straight; with alcohol, he was a total dick.
“Where is Tiffany?” my mother asked me. Honestly, I was shocked she had stopped talking to and fawning over Jasmine enough to even notice that Tiffany was gone.
“She got called back to school. She told me to stay and enjoy the rest of the vacation. She says she’s sorry to everyone for leaving without a goodbye,” I told them, keeping my voice level and calm.
“Bullshit!” I heard my father shout.
“Excuse me?” I asked him. I hadn’t meant to, but his shout had made me mad.
“I think she was just a girl you hired, probably a call girl from Vegas. Hell, for all I know, you did marry her. But she’s not a teacher, and she left you. You know how I know this?” His words were slurring, but their meaning was clear.
I shrugged my shoulders, looking a lot calmer than I felt inside. “Well, I’m sure you are going to tell me, even if I didn’t want to know,” I said snottily.
I’d had about enough of how my parents treated me. I knew he wanted me to be a neurosurgeon. When I had gone into my field of choice, he had put me down. He’d told me I was an idiot and an imbecile and that my mother must have had sex with another man. “Because no son of mine would be as dim-witted and stupid as you.” Those had been his words to me, and I had never once forgotten them. I found it amazing, considering that my very first patient had been a good friend of my father’s. They had known each other for years and were best friends.
Mr. Jones had come in to my office. I had just graduated a few months before. Honestly, I’d had very few clients at the time. I’d had enough to make a living, but not nearly as good of a living as I have now. I was just the new guy on the block. I had women who wanted Botox and breast reductions or augmentations. I had work, but nothing noteworthy.
“Archer, it is great to see you again,” Mr. Jones had shaken my hand when he’d come into my office.
“Hey, Mr. Jones. It’s nice to see you again, too. Thanks you for the graduation gift. How is Mary doing?” I had asked about his wife.
He’d chuckled lightly, “She’s as feisty as ever. Never marry a woman younger than you by more than five years. They will wear you out if you aren’t careful.” He had laughed. “Thank goodness your father replaced my heart. I don’t know if I would have made it this long otherwise!”
I had laughed at his comment. “Yeah, I can imagine she keeps you busy in many ways.” Mary was 15 years his younger, and he had just married her a couple of months prior. I’d remembered my father saying that he was pretty sure Mary was a gold digger, and he only hoped his friend made it through the marriage alive.
“Yes, son. That’s why I am warning you.” He had laughed a few more times and cleared his throat. “So, I want you to help me, and I will help you too.” I had nodded my head in understanding, and he had continued speaking. “I would like you to give me a new nose. With age, my nose has changed. Also, fix all these things.” He referred to the wrinkles that lined his skin.
“Okay, that isn’t a problem,” I’d told him.
“I’d like you to give me a firmer jaw, too – more of a classic look. I think it would help me get more parts again. They don’t come as much as they used too,” he’d told me.
“You’ve been in the business for over forty years, right? Isn’t it time to think of retiring?” I had asked him.
“Son, that’s easier said than done,” he had begun and then stopped. He shook his head. “The reasons behind it aren’t that important right now. I just need to have the work done.”
“Well, I will help you, but I need to know this is for a good reason. Because honestly, I think your face is just fine. You could get parts playing a weathered grandfather, the old-timer sitting in the backyard, and so many other roles,” I’d encouraged him.
“Look, I want to keep Mary by my side. If I look younger, she won’t be looking at other men. I’m not the type of guy who is willing to share my wife either. If I found her cheating on me, I would kill them both. So think of this as a surgery to keep me from going to jail,” he had told me seriously and without cracking a smile.
I had looked at him for a bit, unsure if I should believe his reason or not. However, I also didn’t want to know anything more. That way, if I ever had a visit from the police, I could claim no knowledge of anything. Hearing it once, I could easily forget about. “Alright, I’ll do it,” I’d finally said.
“After you do a great job… Because I know you will. You are Stan’s son, and he’s the best goddamn heart surgeon in the world, so you will be the best damned cosmetic surgeon.”
At that, I had smiled and reddened. It was sad to me that this man, who
wasn’t my father, had more pride in me than my own father did. However, I couldn’t focus on that right now.
“Thank you. That is very kind of you,” I had told him.
“So, after the surgery, you can use my image and show the before and after for results. With my name and your skills, it is sure to give you a few larger names in your stall, if you get my meaning,” he had smiled.
“Yes, big name clients are always a great way to build your name in any field. In this one, though, it will be a great boost to me. Thank you so much. I really can’t tell you thank you enough,” I had said.
“Think nothing of it, son. You will be helping me out, too.”
He had loved his results and had bragged to any news station that would listen. “Dr. Archer Roman is the man who did this, and if you need cosmetic surgery of any kind, I would definitely recommend him,” he had told many stations.
My father had heard his friend bragging and had scoffed at me. “Don’t think it makes you better than you are. You aren’t a real surgeon.”
It had hurt, just like every other insult he had hurled my way in the past.
Right now, my father cleared his throat and prepared to lay his latest insult down in front of me. He was going to tell me how he knew Tiffany had left me. Honestly, I was worried he had run into her and knew more about her departure than I did.
“You are pathetic. You bought her services, and she got tired of you because you aren’t a real man. You couldn’t hold onto Jasmine, and you will never hang on to anyone,” he said drunkenly.
I felt my temper slip over the edge. I didn’t plan to hold back anymore. “You know what? I didn’t want to hold onto that fucking psycho,” I shouted as I pointed at Jasmine. At my words, she shrunk into her chair.
“You know why? Because she’s crazy. She killed her brother’s cat when she was little, and she told him she’d do the same to him. She hasn’t changed either. When we dated, she would go from sweet to psycho in the matter of two seconds. I broke up after she pulled a knife on me and threatened to kill me, and you want to know why she did that? Because I was ten minutes late getting her for our date. Yep, that was the reason she threatened to kill me. But that isn’t all; that’s just the tip of the iceberg. She’s batshit crazy, and I wasn’t going to put up with it anymore. She sent me this video after we broke up.”
I pulled up the video of her fucking whomever she had gotten and yelling out my name. I saw my mother’s face go white as Jasmine’s went red. Tom, her fiancé, looked at her and asked, “When was this?”
“Before us?” he asked angrily.
“Of course.” I could hear the quiver in her voice, and I knew she was lying to him. But I wasn’t going to let him know. He’d figure it out. If he’s smarter than me, kudos to him. I felt vindicated to have made them argue. I watched as she tried to explain it to him, and sputtered and stuttered. She put her hand on his leg and stroked it as she talked, “You know I love you, honey, and it is only you, right?” she asked him.
“I think you’re lying. I’m going.” With that, he got up to leave.
Jasmine jumped up and followed him, and I could hear her pleading with him. I laughed to myself, wondering how I had ever been so blind as to fall for her. “Thomas, please wait. This isn’t what it looks like,” I heard her plead with him.
“So, you’re trying to tell me you aren’t a manipulative little bitch? I doubt that. I’ve noticed it a lot already. But I was willing to keep dating you and even marry you. However, you pulled a knife on the man for being late. What the fuck is wrong with you?” I could barely hear the last part of his statement. Whatever she said back, I couldn’t hear at all.
“Now, as far as you two. You really need to stop dragging her all over creation with us. This is supposed to be a family vacation, and she is not family. I wasn’t even thinking of asking her to marry me when we dated. She was too damn psycho. I wanted to get away from her more than once, but she convinced me to come back at the time. This time, she won’t be able to convince me. I love Tiffany. I married her, and I want to be with her. I hope that you will accept her as part of the family and leave Jasmine where she belongs….at home, and not our home either. Let me put it this way: if you insist on continuing to bring her along, I will not come back to Maui, ever. I will set up some other time to go visit my sister and brother. Do I make myself clear?” I asked my parents.
They sat there with a stunned look on their faces. I wasn’t sure if it was from the video still or from the words I had just said.
My mother got up and motioned for my dad to follow her. They left without another word to me or anyone else. Jasmine had just come back a minute prior to cry to us that Thomas was leaving her; they were done. I wondered if my parents had gone off to comfort her. However, the way they’d looked at her made me think not. It wasn’t the same look I had seen them give her in the past. This was one of disgust and maybe even a little bit of sorrow. Not enough sorrow to help her, though. I had a feeling that Jasmine’s influence on our family had just ended…finally.
I got up and walked to my room. I said goodnight to my brother and sister, who had visually cringed during the video I had played. “Sorry about the video, but they needed to see it and realize that Jasmine isn’t what she tries to convince them she is,” I told them.
“No problem. I just wished you wouldn’t have made us hear it!” Mark said to me, and my sister nodded her head in agreement to his sentiment. “But I am very proud of you for standing up to them. It was great.” Mark gave me a hug.
I walked to my room. I would send my brother and sister an email to explain my early departure. I would also tell them not to tell our parents. Not that my father was right, but I wasn’t going to give him the ammunition that I had lied about her leaving to go back and cheat. My father was enough of an asshole to me without me giving him additional cannon fodder to use on me.
I needed to get back to Tiffany and talk to her, to find out why she had left me. I wanted her more than anything. I needed her in my life. I was still hurt about her leaving without saying anything or leaving me a note. But I was willing to give her a pass on that mistake.
I bought a plane ticket, and while I waited for boarding, I sent an email to my brother and sister.
Hey, Mark & Kelly,
Sorry I didn’t tell you the truth last night. But Dad would have run with it, and I might have punched his old ass out. I wasn’t in the mood for any of their shit last night. I think you were able to tell that, though! Tiffany left me the other night – no note, nothing – and I don’t know why. I love her, and I need to know why she did it. If she doesn’t want me, then I will give her the divorce. However, I want to try to save my marriage. Now, don’t let this crap ruin your vacation. I’ll feel horrible about that, but I wanted you both to know my reasons for leaving early. I’ll try to plan a separate vacation later in the year to catch up with you both. PLEASE do not share this with Mom and Dad. I hope the rest of the vacation goes smoothly for you both.
Love you,
Archer
That would be good enough to explain my departure to them. Anything else they might want to know, they could ask. I would decide what I wanted them to know and what I wouldn’t tell them later on. Right now, I just wanted to focus on finding Tiffany and winning her back, or divorcing her. Honestly, I wanted to be with her, but I wouldn’t beg her to come back to me. At least, I didn’t think I would. I might. It would depend on how much my heart hurt when I saw her, I was sure of that. If I saw her in the next ten minutes, I might cry and beg her. However, after a flight and possibly a little sleep, I might feel differently.
I knew I didn’t want a divorce from her. I would give it to her only if our relationship had no chance of survival. I had to plan what I would say to her perfectly. That kept me awake for most of the flight as I thought of things to mention and not to mention. I couldn’t think clearly, though; my mind was foggy with lack of sleep. Last night, I had barely slept for thinking about Tiffan
y. Yes, I had even cried thinking of her, and it wasn’t just about our amazing sex. I couldn’t think of that, and what else I would be missing out on, if she didn’t want me.
I analyzed every second we had spent together and tried to recall every detail. I looked for moments when I had been an asshole to her, to see if I could figure out her reason for leaving. I couldn’t figure it out, no matter how hard I tried. I sighed and wished that I could get a little sleep on the flight. I picked up the small pillow they give you on flights and tried to get comfortable. I hadn’t been able to get a first class seat on such short notice for my flight. Realizing just how cramped it was in the back of the plane, I wished they’d had a cancellation in first class. But I had to settle for this small seat and no leg room at all. I couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep, so I sat up and turned on the TV. But I couldn’t find anything that looked interesting, even though I had purchased the premium package. All of the movies sounded boring, and there was nothing good on any of the channels.
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