Page 196 of Tell Me What You Want, Or Leave Me

“A bit of a supplement never hurts, right?”

Eric laughs, leaves his sandwich on the tray, and embraces me.

“Tell me what you want.”

Excited by that phrase that means so much to us, I also abandon my sandwich and open my legs for him.

“Give me pleasure.”

We kiss. Eric begins to lower his mouth. Oh yeah. He kisses my navel, and I gasp, but then suddenly a buzzing sound interrupts us. My cell phone!

We look at each other. It’s past three in the morning. A phone ringing at that time can’t be good at all. We both immediately think of our baby. We jump out of bed, and Eric grabs the phone before I can.

I watch him, anguished, as he talks. He calms down. I’m trying to get his attention and gesture with my hand. Before he hangs up, I hear him say, “Don’t move. We’re coming to get you right now.”

“What happened? Is Eric OK? Was it your mother?” I ask, my heart about to beat out of my chest.

He sits me on the bed. I’m about to cry.

“It’s OK. It wasn’t my mother.”

Relief. My baby’s fine. But suddenly fear strikes again. “Then who was it?”

“Your sister.”

My sister? My heart races again. “What happened? Is my father all right?”

Eric nods. “Everyone’s fine. C’mon, let’s get dressed. We’re going to pick up Raquel, who’s at Munich airport, waiting for us.”

“What?”

“C’mon, sweetheart,” he urges me.

Stunned, I quickly dress. At five past four in the morning and dressed for an evening out, we both show up at the airport. I’m nervous. What’s going on with my sister? Why is she at the airport?

Raquel is surprised to see us. “Are you coming from a party?”

Eric and I nod, and quickly bombard her with questions. “What happened? Are you OK? What are you doing here?”

She falls apart.

“Oh, Cuchu, I think I’ve messed up again.”

Not having a clue what’s going on, I look at her, then at Eric, who’s watching us. “Don’t scare me like this, Raquel.”

My sister nods.

“Are Papá and the girls all right?”

She nods again.

“Papá doesn’t know I’m here.”

“What about the girls?” Eric asks, worried.

“With their father. He’s taking them to Menorca for ten days.”

Suddenly, I understand. I lay a hand on her shoulder. “I can’t believe it.”

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