Twisted Truths & Leveled Lies

by Lessner, S. K.

  Lying in each other’s arms, we slowed our breathing, and it only took him a few minutes before he fell asleep beside me. I was completely and utterly satisfied. Smiling at how amazing he was, I sighed, and closed my eyes as well.

  CHAPTER 7

  Waking up had not felt so refreshing in a long, long time. I know, it’s the “new love” feeling, but I didn’t care where it came from. It was here and I was enjoying every minute of it that I could. The smile on my face was endless and I felt like I could run a marathon.

  Climbing out of bed, I stretched my sore muscles and began making my way down the hall toward the kitchen for my morning coffee. It had been a little over a week since Miguel and I first had sex and we had been taking every opportunity we had to make up for lost time. I was still sore, but my body was quickly becoming accustomed to its new work out.

  With each step I took, I reminisced about all the places we’d been to, the sweet things he’d done, and the way we felt when we made love. He seemed perfect in absolutely every way.

  With that thought, I stopped dead in my tracks. When something appears to be too good, it usually is. My mom’s voice echoed in my head as if she were right beside me.

  My movements slowed as I progressed thru the kitchen, mentally replaying all the moments we’d shared during the past few months. I couldn’t remember a time that he hadn’t been romantic, charming, or giving. Was I blinded by my own personal desires to see his flaws?

  No, this is ridiculous! He’s a good guy. I refuse to allow my past relationship experiences to keep me from being happy. Didn’t mom also say something like a good man is like a needle in a haystack and when you found him, never let go? I’m sure she did. Why couldn’t I have heard those words of wisdom in my head this morning? Mom had all kinds of wise sayings she used to express her opinions. Why did I have to hear the warning one?

  “Ugh! Enough already!” I yelled at myself and jerked the kitchen cabinet open, yanking my coffee cup out, and hastily moving over to the pot of coffee that was ready and waiting for me. Good thing for timers on those things or I would’ve ended up with coffee grounds thrown across the kitchen. I wasn’t sure what I was getting upset about. Mom’s words in my head? Me for even considering them? Miguel for being so amazing that it could be too good to be real?

  “Great, now I’m getting mad and I don’t even know what for!” I growled at myself as I grabbed my coffee and headed to the bathroom. Well, one thing was for sure, I definitely had enough problems with myself to share with Mr. Perfect if he needed to borrow some!

  After fighting with the hangers to surrender my clothes and retiring my curling iron to the garbage since it refused to do what I wanted, I finally walked out the door to go to work. Pulling the front door closed, I realized I forgot the shop keys in the house.

  Damn it! Was everything against me today? I just wanted to hit rewind and go back to bed where I woke up in complete bliss and start over! Not only were my shop keys now locked inside my house, but so were my keys to everything else. I had no choice but to go to work and wait for one of the other girls to arrive so I could get my spare set from my desk.

  Normally Joan could toss me hers since we usually walked together to work, but even she was in on this little conspiracy to ruin my day. Using her “you owe me one” Joan and Paul went away for three days without the kids. Yes, today just kept getting better and better.

  It’s days like these that people should be allowed to just call off work. You know, instead of only sick days, we should be given “crazy, fucked up days” to use when it seems the entire world is turning against you! As the boss I could’ve taken the day off, but I never imagined it getting worse then it was when I left home this morning.

  On the contrary, from the time I arrived at work until now, nothing had gone well. The delivery truck we used for larger arrangements broke down…thirty miles from the shop! One entire shipment had to be rescheduled due to the vendor’s own problems, which set us behind on 25% of our orders for the week. A pair of razor sharp scissors decided to join in on the fun and stabbed me right before lunch, causing me to spend nearly an hour trying to get the bleeding to stop.

  Oh, and then to top it all off, I just received a phone call from Joan’s daughter’s school telling me Joan’s daughter had become sick and thrown up all over herself and two other kids. Of course, Paul’s parents didn’t answer their phone so I had to go get sick little Leah and take her home with me. Yes, today should’ve been called in as a crazy, fucked up day and I should’ve stayed in my safe, happy bed.

  After returning home with my niece, I made some soup and got the crackers out for her to eat. I was then informed, very politely, that pizza would be a much better option because she wasn’t actually sick. It was all because of a mean boy named Ben who wouldn’t stop spinning her on the merry-go-round, causing her to throw up.

  Mean boy for sure. He was even against me and I’d never even met the kid!

  To be on the safe side, I stuck with soup, the pouting from my niece, and we both ate and watched Disney channel. After finishing our food, we curled up on the couch together, and fell asleep.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  I opened my eyes and looked around, trying to decide if the knocking was from my dream or somewhere else. Everything was dark, only the light from the TV illuminating the room.

  “Hey, Mel, it’s just me.” I heard Miguel’s voice outside my front door and breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment I thought the gun in my dream was real.

  “Coming.” I called back.

  Glancing at the clock on the nearby bookshelf, I saw that it was 9:15. I’d slept for nearly four hours! I jumped up and hurried toward the door.

  Quickly opening it, I found a very sexy and smiling man holding a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. His pleated black dress pants and white button shirt, the top two buttons undone as usual, made him look like he belonged on the front of a flirty Hallmark card.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call first, I couldn’t stop thinking about you so I figured I’d come by.” He held up the items in his hands and gave me a nervous grin.

  Little did he know that I would want him here, no matter what the reason.

  “Come in silly, I’m glad you came!”

  Holding the door open, I stood to the side for him to enter. His smile was like a child who’d snuck into the cookie jar.

  Taking a few steps inside, he paused and turned toward me, wrapping his empty arm around my back and pulling me into his chest.

  “Mmm, I’ve missed you.” He lowered his head and softly kissed me on my cheek, my body instantly molding into his embrace.

  Lightly kissing a path from my cheek to my ear, he began working his way down my neck. The heat in my body went instantly from ninety-eight to one hundred and fifty. I wanted this man with every part of my body. After a day like today, I needed him like I’d never needed anything else.

  “Mommy?”

  Miguel jumped back nearly three feet and turned to stare at the little girl in my living room. He looked from her to me and back to her again.

  I almost laughed at the shock written all over his face. If it were anyone else, I would’ve enjoyed playing along for a few minutes just to see his reaction. Fortunately for him, I had a greater desire to get back to what we were doing.

  “No, sweetie, your mommy’s not here.” I walked over to the couch and reached down to hug a sleepy-eyed girl. Her little blond curls were sticking out all over the place as she rubbed her eyes to wake up more. Without looking back, I heard a long exhale behind me.

  Suppressing my humor about his assumptions, I turned to introduce the two.

  “This little one is Lindsey. She’s Joan’s daughter.” I couldn’t help but smile as he tilted his head and digested the information. “Lindsey, this is my friend, Miguel.”

  Miguel placed the wine and glasses on the table and sat next to us.

  “What is such a beautiful little princess doing slumming it with such common
ers as your aunt and I?”

  Aw, and I thought he couldn’t melt my heart any more than what he already had. The tenderness in his eyes as he spoke and teased her showed me another side to Miguel. I adored him.

  See Mom, he isn’t bad. I silently scolded my mother.

  “This mean boy made me sick at school today and then Aunt Mel came to get me.” Enjoying the spotlight she continued, “I wanted to eat pizza and have pop and ice cream, but Aunt Mel wouldn’t let me.”

  “She wouldn’t?” He pretended to be shocked by such a decision. “Why would she do such a thing?”

  “I don’t know.” Her eyes widened in bewilderment, as she put all her effort into sounding serious and indignant. “I tried to tell her my tummy wasn’t really sick. That it was only Ben’s fault, but she still made me eat this horrible chicken soup and really dry crackers.”

  Pausing to gage his reaction, she must’ve seen what she wanted, because she plunged forward full force into her puppy dog eyes and requests. “You wouldn’t do that to a sad little girl, would you? You’d want to make sure she was happy and filled with yummy food, huh?”

  That little booger! Well, I see Joan passed down her persuasive personality skills to her daughter.

  “Well, let’s not be too hard on Aunt Mel.” Miguel grinned at me, then leaned down to whisper to Lindsey. “I’ll bet that she was actually the sick one but was too embarrassed to tell you. She needed the soup to get better herself. See, she has bed hair and has obviously been sleeping for hours. But you must’ve taken good care of her because she looks amazing… bed head and all.”

  Lindsey smiled and nodded eagerly at her newfound friend.

  I stood and feigned insult. “Okay you two, if you’re done teasing me I think I’ll go brush my bed head hair and order a pizza.”

  That earned me a clapping little girl and a smile from Miguel.

  “See, you did make her all better.” Miguel smiled and sat back while Lindsey crawled up into his lap.

  Little traitor!

  After going to my bedroom to brush my hair, I changed into some comfy sweats, ordered pizza, and called Paul’s parents again. They had called four times during our little nap, no doubt worrying about what happened to little Lindsey. After reassuring them that everything was okay, I told them I’d just let her stay the night and bring her there in the morning. That changed my plans for what I wanted to do tonight. But to be honest, I was enjoying seeing this other side to Miguel.

  I quietly made my way to the doorway of the living room and watched as Miguel asked Leah all about her many favorites. She had three questions to ask him for every one of his.

  After a few minutes, they noticed me standing there and laughed. Leah wrapped her arm possessively around his neck and smiled at me. She was not giving up her post any time soon.

  “Is mommy coming to pick me up Aunt Mel?”

  “No honey, mommy and daddy are gone for one more day. I just talked to Grammy though and she said you could stay with me tonight if you want to.”

  “Okay,” she hesitated. Usually I got a huge hug and a few screams when I told her she could stay the night with me. “But, can Miguel stay too?”

  Noticing my surprised look, she started with the “please, please, Aunt Mel” lines and of course, puppy dog eyes.

  How did he become number one in less than half an hour? Glancing over at his face, it was clear that he was enjoying this conversation and waiting to see how I replied.

  “Hmm, how about he stays and eats pizza with us and helps me tuck you in before bed? It’s already getting late but we both took a nap so you can stay awake a little later than normal.”

  Instant screams were heard and I was once again her number one person. Well, on second thought, seeing how she ended her enthusiasm and went right back to his lap told me I was only tied for number one now.

  We watched Beauty and the Beast, ate pizza, and Miguel answered endless questions. When it was almost midnight, I told Leah it was time for bed.

  “Can Miguel tuck me in, Aunt Mel? Pleeeease?”

  Although I was still somewhat surprised, I understood how wonderful he was and had to admit that I wanted him to tuck me in too.

  “Well, I guess so. Give me a hug and kiss first though.”

  She jumped up and squeezed me tight, thanking me, and told me not to let the bedbugs bite. Reaching her little hand out, Miguel placed his in hers and stood from the couch. With a small bounce in her step, she pulled him behind her all the way to the bedroom.

  Twenty minutes later, Miguel came back into the living room. I was lying on the couch flipping channels as he stretched out beside me.

  “She’s adorable, Mel.” His eyes were glowing as he told me all about the story he shared with her about his childhood and how she fell asleep holding his hand.

  “I had no idea you were so good with kids.”

  “Honestly, I didn’t know myself. I’m not around many kids.”

  “Well, you’re a natural then.”

  He nuzzled my neck and kissed the sensitive skin below my ear. “You’re pretty amazing yourself.”

  He was always so sweet, so endearing. It wasn’t just sexual with him, it was so much more. With every touch and every kiss he gave me, I felt myself falling more and more in love with him.

  I told him all about my day and how I woke up perfectly happy, only to have it quickly spiral out of control. He massaged my shoulders, rubbed my feet, and played with my hair. It would be tempting to have bad days more often just to receive that type of attention at the end of it.

  He talked about his day and told me that he had a voicemail from his sister, but hadn’t returned the call yet. He didn’t sound happy about it though.

  “Are you going to call her in the morning?” I asked curiously.

  “I haven’t decided yet.” He paused to think.

  I didn’t say anything. I’d come to know that this was how he worked things out in his mind before expressing them verbally.

  “My sister has never called before, so I think I should. I just don’t have a good feeling about it.”

  “Did she say something in the message to make you think it’s bad?”

  “Not exactly. She called though. And that in itself is odd. Women, where I grew up, are not the ones to make calls when something needs discussed or there are problems. I’m hoping that maybe she just missed me and snuck away to hear my voice.”

  I was always surprised when he told me more about his family or his culture. I had never traveled the world or even studied other cultures, so my knowledge was very limited. Still, it seemed so ancient for women to be treated less because of their gender.

  Sometimes when I was alone, I’d wonder if Miguel had any of those traits or if he truly was different than his family. So far, I hadn’t seen any indications that would make me worry, but the movies of overbearing and controlling men still existed. I usually talked myself out of it pretty quickly, reassuring myself that he was a good man and I was lucky to have found him, but when stories of his family came up, that little seed of concern always crept up on me.

  “Do you, I mean, well…” I tried to face my worry head on, but stumbled over the words.

  Gratefully, he picked up on it and answered it for me.

  “No, Mel. Never. I hated how my father treated my mother and sisters growing up. I despised the men in my country for how they viewed women. It was a big part of what made me leave.” He looked at me with all sincerity and continued, “I could never, ever, treat you with less respect than I do myself. You are so intelligent, so kind and loving, and so very giving. You deserve to be put above myself at all times.”

  Feeling totally hugged emotionally by his words, I closed my eyes and snuggled into his embrace. I quickly fell asleep and began dreaming of a world of me and Miguel.

  Some time later, he must have moved off the couch because I woke to an empty spot beside me. Looking over the edge, I noticed his hand was still on top of the cushions, but his body was ly
ing on the floor beside me.

  I leaned over and watched him as he slept. He was so beautiful. Even for a man, there was no other word to describe him. His coffee colored skin almost glowed in the moonlight coming through the window. His face was serene and peaceful as he slept below me.

  I sighed and rolled back onto my pillow, covering his hand with mine, as I closed my eyes.

  “Mel?”

  My eyes immediately popped open when I heard him whisper my name.

  “Did I wake you?” I whispered back.

  “No, honey, I haven’t been sleeping good and felt your hand on mine. I just wanted to tell you I love you.” His words were loving, but his tone was sad. He sounded far from his usual confident and happy self.

  “Why’d you move to the floor?”

  “I thought about Lindsey and worried she would wake up to see Aunt Mel’s friend sleeping with her. I just thought it was the right thing to do.”

  I’m glad one of us could display some morals. It seemed like my hormones had taken over and everything else had gone out the window.

  “Oh, thank you. I guess I should’ve thought of that.”

  “That’s what I’m here for.” His voice still sounded far away and upset.

  Still lying on two different levels with only our hands connected, I decided to find out why.

  “What’s wrong Miguel? You sound upset.”

  “I am. It’s my sister. It’s hard to explain. On one hand, I’d love to have my family back. But on the other, there’s no way I could ever live like they would want me to or do the things they’d ask of me.”

  And there it was. The loss of an entire family. Not just his parents like I had, but everyone who ever meant anything to him.

  Not knowing how to take away his pain, I did the only thing I knew how. I moved down to the floor and wrapped my arms around him, laying my head on his chest.