Page 102 of Sugar Coated Secrets

My hands tremble when I place the phone on my ear, listening to it ring. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Katie asks in a worried tone.

I sniff and wipe my face. “Can you come and get me, Katie?”

“Oh, no…Let me guess, he left.”

I nod like she can see me. “Yeah.”

“You said he would.”

Deep down, I knew there was no future. One night was all I would have with him.

“I did. It’s what he does.”

I hear her grab her keys in the background. “I’m walking out the door. Was it worth it?”

I glance at the rumpled white sheets and then at the red heels at the foot of the bed and smile. “Yeah, I finally know what it’s like to forget and feel something for once.”

“It’s his loss, Dulce. You know that, right?”

“Yeah,” I lie.

“I got the address to the hotel you sent me last night.”

I look out the window at the tiny café. People walk in and out. Cars turn into the hotel. “I’ll meet you across the street. There is a little café.”

“I’ll be there in a few hours.”

“Thank you, and drive safe.”

I walk over to the desk and grab the notepad and pen. I write him a note. I grab the red heels and dress, placing them neatly on the bed.

I close my eyes, and a memory of last night comes rushing back. My eyes lift when he finally pushes inside me. I see myself in the reflection of his gaze. He doesn’t move for a fraction of a second, and at that moment I’m his, and he’s mine. One fleeting moment when all is forgotten, and there is nothing but us in the room. There is no past. No future. Just the moment when we fit perfectly for the first time even though I knew it would never happen again. Not with him. Not for a girl like me.

I place the note on top of the black dress where he can see it.

I’m sorry about last night. I should’ve never stayed.

Dulce

32

DULCE

“So how did it go?” my grandmother asks.

Katie dropped me off after I told her what happened, leaving out the part of the miscarriage. I keep telling myself it’s for the best. The sun hadn’t come up and it was already over.

“It was perfect. I have more orders than Katie and I can handle,” I tell her with a smile. “I can finally get a van for deliveries.”

“That’s great,” she says and then coughs up blood. My heart sinks. “I’m sorry.” She folds the napkin, hiding the truth. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s…something, Grandma.” She gives me a wan smile like she isn’t bleeding from the inside the way my heart is bleeding out as I lose her.

I stayed up with her until my eyes couldn’t stay open. We talked. I laughed. We cried. More blood came up from her lungs.I cuddled next to her, holding her hand like a child with its mother.

She was the only person I had, and she was leaving me.

“He’ll be good for you, Dulce,” she says weakly. “I know it. Ford…he’ll take care of you.”

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