Sweet Nothings

Little Corner of Heaven

The phone pings. I open up the message from Stacia and see the picture. I thought I was over being hurt. Kind of settling into that whole angry stage, but this stings.

He's in what used to be my favorite boxer briefs. I bought them as a gag gift from one of those novelty sites. He said that they had ripped a little while back and had to be thrown away. But here he is, standing in the doorway with his elephant trunk swinging. I can see Maribela leaning over the couch. OH HELL NO!!!! Does she- wait a minute. I had a nightie go missing two months ago....around the same time, this jerk said his drawls had to be thrown away.

She is in my lace La Perla bodysuit in onyx that I splurged on. That beautiful scrap of fabric made me feel sexy as hell. It cost way more than I would normally pay for lingerie, but I just had to get it, Spell On You. Price tagged at $1,110. I was pissed when it went missing. Emil insisted that it had to be around the house somewhere. That son of b-, you know what. She is welcome to it and to him. But I will take the cost out of her monthly allowance.

I go to wipe my eyes as Ale walks over to sit beside me on the couch.

" Okay, BigHead, why are you cryin?" asked Ale.

I handed him my phone, and the picture zoomed in a bit for detail.

"Eww...is that Maribela in a nightie?"

"Yup, pretty sure it's mine too," I reply.

"The f*ck..that's incredibly gross," Ale says with his fists balled. "I seriously need some eyeball bleach. I can not express how much I could have gone through my whole life without ever seeing Maribela like that."

"Same," I say. " I'm emailing this to my lawyer right now."

I need to continue to build up my case. I have moved away from my family and friends, my support system. I have got to continue to protect myself because those two were never who I thought they were.

I shoot off my email and get up to organize my space. Shaking off that bad energy as I do. "Ale, I want to go back into town, maybe check out a restaurant or grocery store to get the essentials we'll need. Want to come or stay here?" I ask.

" Which one are we doing? I am down for the restaurant, but I'll pass on the grocery store."

"You know what? I will go to the grocery store. I need to get my bearings here, and I really want to have a minute to get myself together, ya know?"

"Okay, cool! See if they have any places where we can get a good concha. I mean no place is better than Leon's, but still."

" Now you know we probably will not find anything like that here, but I'll look around on the way to the grocery store."

I grab my coat and bag off the arm of the couch to head out. I pause at the door.

"Manito!! Thank you for this. I mean it. You paused your life to come to make sure I was okay and to handle it if I wasn't. Te amo feo."

"Mara... seriously, there is no place I would rather be. This is what family does. La familia protege a la familia. Me and you, Xiomara. Me and you. Te amo fea."

Well, sh*t, now I am really about to cry. I walk out and close the door behind me. The excitement from earlier has worn off after that damn photo. As I walk to my Atlas, I take a few deep breaths. Driving upset like this is dangerous for me and the baby. I sit down in the car and start it up. I feel like getting lost in this little sleepy town and trying to find myself. I pause. That is exactly what I am going to do!! Find me.