This Love Must Go On

Deborah

Deborah

Getting mad at your long hair was a different type of anger. I wore my hair up but an innocent smile tugged on my lips when I found Lessie was still holding her little thick palm up. I restored the warmth into her hand again while her other hand was engaged in holding the leash of her cat. "Someone had real fun in the sun."

She squeaked as I lifted her and she hung around my arm. "And Maria enjoyed it too."

"Yeah."

"Tomorrow you will get in the pool with me. Promise?"

"Ah- Promise."

"Hey, hey, listen," Leon called from behind, his business-minded etiquette stopping me in the thoroughfare. I couldn't take my eyes off his face for a second. For a minute. For an entire effing hour? I always underestimated his beauty. I was only drifting off by the calmness, his patience and his sexy stubbornness. Wow. I wanted to say something. Just how beautiful one could possibly look. Straight out of the history books. But to frame a compliment into a Leon-approved-language, would take a great passage of time. So he spoke, "There is someone who wants to meet you."

He pried the little girl's tiny hand from mine. Rather forcefully, if I wasn't fawning over him a while ago.

"Who?"

"Why don't you find it yourself?" He pulled me into the centre of the swanky room. Things moved so fast around me that I could only catch a murky flash of everything. And then he dropped my wrist as if it was as heavy as hateful guilt. He abandoned me in the sizeable field to find his stance across me. It seemed like a battle between good and evil wherein I looked weakened, confused and frightened.

I saw a man. The absence of sharp angles from the jawline, side balding and untrimmed beard hinted my cognition that he wasn't the kind of man Leon would keep ties with, by any freaking means. But Leon was in a close radius. Maximo stood behind him with a crestfallen expression. The middle-aged man got up and introduced himself in a sandpaper voice, "Hello, I'm police detective Andre Macmillan."

I ignored that dangerous stubby fingers handshake. "But what's the trouble detective?" I looked at their faces, acting unbeknownst while internally I was sweating in buckets. Leon wouldn't let the premise work as it was. This man had no heart. No mercy. Now he had involved a dirty detective to get my secret out. I still couldn't solve the mystery as to for what reasons Doc Connor was covering for me, and now, the thought of convincing this plus-size animal wouldn't be possible for sure. He could outthink any opponent. I closed my eyes.

"I can't tell how important your presence is here today. Thanks for coming." Leon forced a brittle smile at the burly man and uttered, "With a lot of regret I have to admit that Doc Connor's therapy is crawling in the name of running. No wonder in your case he might have to detangle his own mental cords. So, I approached the right person. I knew from the beginning that it was going to be a legal case."

"So, what happened that night?" He took out a flat notepad, the size smaller than his palm.

"If you are a professional, start with the first question at least. Ask my name?" I closed my arms across my chest. Ending the option of making a run of it.

"So you can finally recall your name now? Tell me about it."

My lips parted and my shoulders dropped. "What do you want to hear?"

"Did you murder someone and were trying to escape from the crime scene?" He was chewing gum, that habit reminded me of my ex, and the entire prospect of continuing the talk with him confirmed one thing - it was going to be a hell of a loathsome task.