Web of Deceit

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 has 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 nighty 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 AJ walks over to sit beside me on the couch. " Okay, BigHead, why are you cryin," asked AJ. I hand him my phone the picture zoomed in a bit for detail. "Eww...is that Maribela in a nighty?" "Yup, pretty sure it's mine too," I reply. "The f*ck..that's incredibly gross," AJ 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. These assholes really have me out here all hurt. 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. "AJ, 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 do 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."

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

"Hermano!! 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."

"Em... seriously, there is no place I would rather be. This is what family does. La familia protege a la familia. Me and you, Em. 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 Telluride, 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.

I pull out of the driveway and head back toward the downtown area. Maybe I can pick up a decaf coffee and some kind of pastry on my way to the grocery store. I try to search the GPS for that coffee place we rode past earlier, it looked like fun, but the name was escaping me. I see a place called Rincocito Cafe. What are the odds that there really is a Spanish bakery all the way up here? Now I have to swing past to check it out.