Romance: The Betrayal: Romantic Suspense With A Bizarre Twist (10 page)

“You have changed, but more than a little.” She spoke, sitting back in her seat.

He started the rental and pulled from the parking lot.  He saw her staring out the window, as if she was thinking.  “Any preference of where to go?” He asked, breaking into the silence.

She shook her head, “Whatever!”

He continued to drive, until he was pulling into a Pizzeria.  She opened the door, not giving him a chance to.  He held back while she walked ahead of him.  His eyes sauntered down her frame and then he cursed himself.  This wasn’t helping the fact that he didn’t want to mix business with pleasure. 

As he rushed to the door to open it up for her, their eyes met.  Her smile was pure and sweet.  She entered the restaurant and he knew that what he was doing to get her out of his mind wasn’t working and it would require an adjustment…a big one.

***

Marisa tossed and turned in the bed.  She didn’t know what her problem was.  It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to sleeping on a hard bed.  She sat up in her bed and turned on the television.  She flipped through the channels and landed on an old movie.

As she watched she began to imagine herself and Jeffrey portraying the characters.  She groaned, when the leading male and leading female began kissing.  It was like Jeffrey’s hands were all over her body and his tongue was dipping into her mouth. 

She quickly changed the channel.  She didn’t have time to have thoughts like that running through her mind.

She started watching a classic sitcom episode of
I Love Lucy. 
She was laughing along with the television audience, when she heard the phone in her room ringing.  She glanced at the clock to read eleven o’clock.  She reached across the bed and answered the phone.  “Hello?”

“Hello, Marisa…I’m sorry to call so late.”  There was a hesitation on his end.  “Is that the television I hear?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.”

“Me neither,” he admitted to her.  “A lot on my mind.”

“Right.  There’s been a lot of information thrown at you…I mean us, today.  So, it makes sense that our minds are reeling.”

There was a brief pause, before she heard him chuckling.  “Yeah, that isn’t exactly why I can’t sleep.”  For a moment she wondered if it was because of her, but she didn’t want to think foolish thoughts.  “I actually am calling to tell you that the meetings for tomorrow have been cancelled.  I just received an email, something about a water main break at the building they were using.”

“Oh…that’s too bad,” she spoke, but she was really thrilled to know that they didn’t have to sit through another boring meeting.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.” He laughed, clearly seeing her sarcasm.  “So, I was wondering…if you would want, that is…would you like to go visit your family tomorrow?”

Her jaw dropped.  She processed his words, but wasn’t sure if he truly meant them.  “That’s a three hour trip.”

“I realize that.  I actually know the Pittsburgh area well.  Our plane doesn’t leave until eight o’clock.  We could get up early, you could visit them, and still be back in plenty of time to catch the plane to New York.”

“You’re going, too?” She asked, trying to catch her thoughts.

His light breathing was echoing through the phone.  “I suppose that I could stay here and you could take the rental.  I guess that I never really thought about that.”  She heard disappointment on his end.  “Is that what you want?”

She shook her head, despite the fact that he couldn’t see her.  She knew that she wanted him to go, but she just was surprised to learn that he hand that in his mind.  “You are more than welcome to meet me family.”

“Well then…it’s settled.  Tomorrow we can get up at seven o’clock, get dressed, and head out.  I’m sorry that you missed the barbeque.”

“That’s fine,” she quickly spoke.  She was still going to see her loved ones.  “Thank you, Jeffrey.”

“You are welcome.”  They disconnected the call and she hung up the phone.  She began to reach for the phone again, but decided to leave it as a surprise and she knew that they would definitely be surprised.

***

They were about fifteen minutes from her house and Jeffrey began to question her about her family.  He figured that he should have some idea of where she came from.  “So, give me the lowdown about your family.  How you grew up and what kind of upbringing did you have?”

She seemed to think about it and he noticed a slight hesitation before she replied.  “Well, my mom used to be a nurse.  Then she had me and decided that she needed to take some time off to raise me.  She was going to go back when I was starting Kindergarten.  However, she had my sister before getting that chance.  She never went back.”  She looked out the window and he saw a smile on her lips.  “She is a great Mom and I have truly been blessed.”

“So, your sister…were you close?”  He asked, generally interested.

She nodded, “She is my best friend.”  She then turned back to him and spoke, “How about you?  Do you have any siblings?”

He shook his head; he wanted to have someone to grow up, with but he wasn’t blessed like that.  “Nope, only child.”

She scrunched her nose, “You must have been spoiled.”

He laughed, “You would be absolutely…wrong.  I was given money when I needed it, but there was a lot I was lacking.”

She showed signs of concern and empathy.  “I know exactly what you mean.”

He could see that she meant that and it felt good to find someone he could talk to.  “Well, I know about your mom and your sister…tell me about your dad.”

Her face turned grim and she faced the window.  “We don’t really talk about him.”  He could see that he struck an emotional chord.  Yet, even though he saw pain in her eyes, she looked back at him and shrugged, “I suppose you might as well know.  My dad is at the state prison.  He was a drunk most of my life and would take it out on all of us.  He left bruises on my sister and me for a good portion of our childhood.”

He couldn’t believe the truth that was coming out.  He reached across the car and grabbed her hand.  Their eyes met and he shook his head, “I am so sorry, Marisa.  Any guy that does that to his kids and wife, deserves to be locked up.”

He saw tears in her eyes as she nodded, “That’s why I left right after graduation.  I couldn’t stand being in the same town with all the bad memories.”

He squeezed her hand and her eyes wandered down to the hold.  They remained holding hands while going the rest of the way.  She pointed to several different streets to turn down, before they made their way to a cul-de-sac. 

She pointed to a white house on the end and he pulled in front of the house.  He reluctantly pulled his hand away as they got out of the car.

“Thank you!” she said, before they headed up the driveway.  “This is exactly what I needed.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he smiled, trying to ignore the fact that he would have given her the moon. 

They headed up the steps and she knocked on the door.  After a couple of minutes, an older woman opened the door.  Her eyes got big and she covered her mouth.  “Marisa?”

“Mom…” Marisa spoke.  Her voice was shaky.  Her mom opened the screen door and threw her arms around her.  They held each other in an emotional embrace, while he stayed back.  When they pulled away, she turned to Jeffrey.  “Mom, this is Jeffrey Bradley…my boss.”

Her mother turned to him, “Hello, sir.”

“Please, call me Jeffrey.” He replied, shaking her hand.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She smiled, then turned back to her daughter.  “I don’t understand.  I thought you said that you couldn’t come this weekend.”  She held the door open, as they entered.

“I couldn’t, but we had our meetings yesterday and they were cancelled for today.  So, Jeffrey said that we could come here today.”  She was beaming and he was thankful that he had made the suggestion.

“Jeffrey, thank you so much.”

He shrugged, “I am glad that I could make it work.”

“Hillary is going to be so excited to see you.”  Her mother was saying.  “Hillary…come down here.”

“What is…” a voice from upstairs yelled.  He looked up to see that Hillary was standing at the top of the stairs.  “Marisa?”  She ran down the stairs and jumped into her arms, they hugged for what felt like an eternity.  “I…I don’t understand.”  She pulled away and he saw that she was just as emotional.  She glanced toward him and then back at Marisa.  “Who is the guy?”

“This is my boss Jeffrey Bradley.”

He shook her hand, “Hello, Hillary.  Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” she smiled.

“Tell me everything that you have been up to,” Hillary said, grabbing onto Marisa’s arm and carrying her away into another room.  He didn’t know if he should follow or give them space.

“Would you like some coffee, Jeffrey?”  Her mother asked him.

He smiled, “No thank you.”

She nodded, “Make yourself at home,” she then walked away.  He awkwardly hung out in the foyer, leaning against the banister.  He knew that Hillary and Marisa would want their space and he didn’t want to be an intruder.

***

“Girl, you didn’t tell me what a fine piece of specimen you were working for,” Hillary spoke, as they took a seat on the couch.

Marisa rolled her eyes, “He’s not bad.”

“Not bad?”  Hillary shook her head, “You are either blind or in denial.”

Marisa knew that she definitely wasn’t blind.  She shrugged, trying to forget about it.  “Tell me about you.  Did I see something on your left hand?”

Hillary laughed, “If I would have known you were going to be here then I would have hidden it from you.”  She produced her hand and Marisa stared down at the shiny ring.  “I’m engaged.”

“Mom said you had news, but I had no idea.”

“It just kind of happened.  I met him two months ago when I was getting my car worked on.  We instantly had a connection and then he asked me to marry him.  We haven’t even had sex…he wants to wait.  Can you believe that?”

Marisa slowly shook her head, knowing that she was already one step ahead of that with Jeffrey.  “I am happy for you.”

“Thank you,” she replied, staring down at her ring.  Her eyes got big, “Maybe you could get one of these things if you make nice with the lawyer.”  She winked at her and Marisa playfully hit her on the arm.  “Ouch,” she laughed.

Marisa looked around the living room, “Speaking of…I wonder where he is.”

“You know Mom.  She’s probably talking his ear off.”

“I hope not,” Marisa replied, feeling scared.  She laughed, thinking of the things her mother could tell him about her. 

She started to get up, but Hillary reached out for her hand, pulling her back down.  She looked at her and she smiled.  “He’ll be fine.  I want to hear everything that has been going on with you.”

Marisa told her the things that she felt she could, conveniently leaving out the fact that she was technically homeless.  About an hour later, her mother was calling them in the kitchen for lunch.  They headed out of the living room, where she saw Jeffrey standing at the banister.

She caught his eyes and started to laugh.  “What are you doing?  You could have come in.”

He smiled, “I figured you wanted some alone time.  I thought about sitting out in the car.”

She rolled her eyes, “Not necessary.”

“I didn’t know what deep secrets you were going to share and I thought if you wanted to talk about me…it would be easier while I wasn’t around.”  He was smiling to show that he was teasing, but she blushed.  She hoped that he didn’t hear anything.  “Did you?”

“Did I what?” she asked.

“Did you talk about me?”  He asked with a wink.

She looked away from him, searching for what she could say to him, then decided that she would play along.  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” She winked, brushing past him and heading toward the kitchen.  She was suddenly feeling pretty good about their relationship and wanted the easiness to continue.

***

Marisa didn’t want the day to end.  Her time with the family was going so well.  She looked at Jeffrey as they were saying their goodbyes.  He seemed to fit into the family and it was like they were a true couple.  “Goodbye, Hillary.”  I hugged her tightly.  “I’ll be back soon.”

She nodded, then turned to Jeffrey and shook his hand.  “It was nice meeting you, Hillary.”  He then turned to her mother and shook her hand.  “Thank you for being so hospitable.”