My All

Part 8

Deborah felt nervous at dinner with Wilma. She felt the woman gazing at her. "So, Desiree, what's your mother's name?" Wilma asked after carefully studying Deborah.

"Mary."

"And her last name?"

"Um, Carter." Deborah said uncomfortable as she lied shifting in the booth.

"What is her maiden name, dear?"

"I don't know. She died giving birth to me and my dad doesn't speak about her."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. You know when I saw you this morning, you looked so familiar. I had to look through my pictures and found this." She said, placing some pictures of two smiling girls on the table. One of them looked just like Deborah.

"Wow, she looks just like Desiree." Shawn said, grabbing the picture and comparing it with Deborah.

"Her name was Marilyn. And you look so much like her, except for the hair. Hers was blonde and yours is black."

"Mom, isn't that the witch's daughter?" Shawn asked.

"Shawn! Her name is Gina, stop calling her a witch." Wilma said, slapping his hand.

"You knew this woman?" Deborah asked.

"We were best friends. Until some rich man came into town, married her and took her far away. And when she finally came back home, some man raped her and she died in childbirth. Very sad story. When I saw you this morning it was like seeing her working here again."

"She worked here?"

"Yes, we both did."

"My mother was a waitress in town too."

"Dear, we all start that way here. Well, this was lovely, but I have to get back to the hospital." She shook Deborah's hand and kissed Shawn's cheek. "Close up early tonight, it's a slow night."

As Wilma left, Deborah grabbed her coat and walked towards the door. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" Shawn asked her.

"I thought we had a date." She said smiling. "Are you coming or what?"

"I thought you had forgotten. Carl, we're leaving. I'll come back later to close, so don't close the back door." He said, grabbing his coat and following Deborah outside. "So, to the park?"

"Yes." She said laughing and ran towards the lake. She sat on the same bench they had sat earlier waiting for him. "You're late." She said as he was trying to catch his breath.

"You're fast." He said sitting down.

"It's so beautiful at night." She said looking at the lake. "And so peaceful." She turned to look at him and caught him staring at her. "What?" She blushed.

"You are so different from other girls I've met before. What is it about you?" He said, shaking his head.

"You obviously have a problem with girls like me."

"Your type precisely. I had a bad experience."

"What happened?"

"It's a very long and boring story." He chuckled, repeating her earlier words.

"Hey, you promised you would tell me everything about you."

"Everything is a bit much, don't you think." He laughed.

"Okay, well, give me something good."

"Alright, alright. You twisted my arm. Four years ago, my parents set up an arranged marriage between me and this girl I knew when we were kids. And yeah, she was beautiful, but that was about it. She was the most horrible person. All she cared about was the money, she wanted this huge destination wedding. Even for our honeymoon, she specified it had to be in Italy. I'll admit I did like her and cared for her. But I couldn't take it anymore and walked away."

"How did she take the breakup?"

"I have no idea. I stood her up on our wedding day. I do know that she went on our honeymoon with some guy she was seeing behind my back, so I think she didn't take it to bad."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. But why is your mother saying you are still engaged."

"July, that's her name, came back a couple of months ago after finishing college and asked for forgiveness. I refused to see her. But my mom kept trying to push it and still thinks we are going to get back together and get married."

"I can't believe you had to go through that."

"So, what's your story? What are you really running away from?"

She looked at the old woman's house and sighed. "My father has always controlled my money, where I use it and how. Things weren't that great at the house. He was really strict with me, we could say. Well, last year I started thinking about my senior year, and that there's a trip at the end of the year and I really wanted to go, specially because it would give me freedom from my father. So, I got a job at a local bar, kind of a dump. Even Molly's is better than this place." She said, referring to the bar next to the diner. "I met the owner's son, he's a bartender there. We dated for a year. One day I went over to his place, unannounced, and found him in bed with another girl, a regular from the bar."

"I'm so sorry. No wonder you don't trust us." He said as she got up and walked to the edge of the lake. He got up and stood next to her.

"I was so young and stupid. I forgave him for that and took him back. Then like a month later, he got drunk and told me he was with me only for my money." She said as tears formed in her eyes.

Shawn stood in front of her and wiped her tears away. "I sense that there's more. That's not it, is it?"

"It's too much. I can't."

"My story has a bad ending too. Want to hear?" She nodded. "When July came back, she came back with a three year old boy, saying he's mine."

"Is he?"

"We only slept once together and I was really careful. My mother thinks he's mine, she even says he looks like me."

"You don't want to know if he's yours?"

"I'm more upset. If he really is mine why did she keep it from me for so long? But, eventually, I am going to do a DNA test to find out. It's not the kid's fault. So, want to tell me the end of your story?"

"Sorry, I can't." She tried to get away, but he grabbed her and pulled her to him. She looked up at his eyes as he caressed her cheek.

"What are you doing to me?" He asked, looking intensely at her.

"Shawn." She whispered. She closed her eyes as his face got closer to hers. As soon as she felt his lips touch hers she snapped. She slapped him, push him in the lake and ran away.