Don't Be Afraid To Love

Chapter 14

"Where've you been, girl?" Cristina asked me when I reached the office.

"I was... I had an early meeting with a client," I lied. It wasn't exactly a lie, since as a matter of fact, Robert was a client.

She squinted her eyes like she always did when trying to "read" me and then gasped.

"Oh my God, you met with that widower guy again!" she suspected.

"No, I haven't."

The truth was that I wanted to tell her all about him, about our meetings, about my emerging feelings - I really needed someone I could pour out my heart to - but I knew she would judge me, so I refrained from telling her anything.

"So did you guys fuck already?"

"Cristina!"

"Whaaat?"

"I already told you, we're not dating. He's just a friend."

"Is he rich?"

"I didn't ask him!" I retorted.

"Oh, please, even you are after something, despite all that Mother Theresa high moral values attitude of yours."

Cristina was starting to get on my nerves lately.

"We're just friends," I repeated. "Haven't you ever had a male friend?"

"Uhh, I did. A lot of them, actually. But I slept with all of them."

I laughed at her response and shook my head.

If I thought about Cristina's question, the reason I kept meeting with Robert was because I liked him. Maybe just a little too much. I had no hidden agenda. I just truly hoped he liked me back.

*****

When I went to my mom's that weekend, she was baking apple pie.

"I ran into my friend, Greta, who lives downtown, and she gave me a bag of nice apples, so I thought I made one of those pies you like," my mom said.

"Yummy," I smiled and could already feel the tasty smell of the baked pie.

"You know what else Greta told me?" she asked me while washing the dishes. She said it with a tone that implied something bad was going to come out of her mouth.

"What?" I asked warily.

"She told me she saw you leaving from a man's apartment a few nights ago."

Just as she said that, I recalled hearing someone open and closing a window when I left Robert's house that night.

"You never told me you are seeing someone, honey," my mom inquired me.

"I'm not. I mean..."

"You can tell me, you know."

"I know, mom, but it's nothing. I was just helping out a friend," I replied.

"In the middle of the night??"

The bell from the oven rang, announcing the pie was done.

My mom put her gloves on and took the tray out of the oven, and put it on a wooden board. I took advantage of her being busy with the pie and went to the bathroom, hoping she would change the subject when I returned to the kitchen.

But instead, when I got back from the bathroom, I saw her leaning over the table looking at something, and I realized it was my phone, which I had left on the table.

"What are you doing?"

"I can tell by these texts that you're more than friends, honey!" she said with a voice that suggested she just discovered I was lying to her.