Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (books to get back into reading TXT) 📕

I rolled over, closing my eyes, trying my best to sleep. Then I heard the door crack. I opened my eyes and saw that it was Ben and Belín coming in together. He gave her a long and romantic goodnight kiss. I felt a pang of jealousy. They just had their surreptitious date and he walked her to her door, as odd as that sounds given the circumstances. I pretended to be asleep so as to give them their privacy. Ben quickly left and Belín just stood there facing the door with her forehead leaning against it.

“Hey,” I said in a low voice, “what’s the matter?”

She jumped, startled. “Why are you still awake?”

“I can’t sleep. Too worried about what Josh will do or say.” I sat up, “So, why do you look so pensive?”

“Because I am,” she sighed. “Ben is the perfect man and…”

“I beg to differ but go on,” I said, cutting her off.

“Ha, yes, I’m sure you disagree, but nonetheless, he is the perfect man and I find myself thinking of the future. My future. Our future,” she said. She didn’t finish her thought. I guessed she had finally found someone that was making her question if she should chase the next story or not. She scurried off to the bathroom.

17

The noise of the rushing water must have lulled me to sleep because the next thing I knew Belín was waking me up so I could get ready to leave. I looked at the clock—three-fifty, in the morning. I jumped up and rushed to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror in a daze, not knowing what to do first. My head felt so groggy and my arm felt like it had been shot. Belín walked out of my closet with my clothes.

“Isa, brush your teeth and wash your face,” she ordered. “We won’t look anything alike if you can’t help yourself.”

I quickly did as she said. She handed me my clothes. I put them on a little too slow, in her opinion, since I could see her rolling her eyes out of the corner of my eye.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “My arm still hurts.”

“It’s fine,” she answered. “Your press powder and blush are on your vanity. I already put mine on. I just need to put my hair in a ponytail.”

I finished applying the press powder and blush—now for the hard part—lifting my arm so I could put my hair in a ponytail. I brushed my hair with my good arm first, to get it nice and smooth. I looked over at Belín to make sure my hair matched hers, and it did. I took a deep breath and exhaled as I started to pull my hair up and back. The pain shot through my arm as if someone set it on fire. If I wasn’t awake before, I was now. Once done, we stood side by side, facing the mirror, looking at each other and ourselves.

“Not bad,” I said. “I hope this works.”

“It will work fine, Isa. Have a little faith.”

“Yup, it’ll work,” I said nervously. “Just don’t smile since you don’t have a dimple and I do.”

We grabbed our purses and my work tote and headed to the living room. I saw my mother walking back in the house with Samson. She had just finished letting Samson back in and feeding him. My stomach was in knots. I looked at Belín as she was getting her jacket on. She didn’t react. My mother noticed my nerves, walked over to me and whispered, “I’ve got this, honey.”

“Good morning, Ben,” my mother chimed cheerily. “I do hope you were able to sleep just a little.”

Ben had walked in from the kitchen. “Good morning, yes, I was able to get a power nap.” He paused, staring at all of us. “What’s going on? Why is everyone up and ready to leave?”

“Didn’t Isabel Grace let you know?” She was getting her purse and tying her coat. “The girls have mammograms this morning. It’s sort of a family tradition,” she said, smiling. “Every year on our birthdays we each get mammograms and have our well woman exams. You see, breast cancer runs on my side of the family and this year is extra special because Belín is here with us so I told Isabel Grace to schedule one for her as well, since her birthday is in February and who knows if she’ll be on another assignment.” She added, “Better now than never.”

Holy shit! My mother can lie! It was rolling off her tongue like turpentine. My dad’s in trouble—she’s good.

“Oh…uh.” Ben eyed Belín. Probably thinking “Why didn’t you tell me while we were together last night?” “Let me get my holster on and my jacket then.”

“Perfect, we’ll wait for you right here,” she said.

Neither Belín nor I said anything at all. We just looked at my mother, impressed.

“Uh, Dr. Langley, why is this mammogram so early in the morning, if you don’t mind me asking?” Ben was walking toward us putting on his suit jacket.

“Not at all,” my mother answered. “Well, we’re kind of cheating. Belín doesn’t have any insurance that’s good here in the States so I called an old friend from graduate school, who’s on the board at Cook County Hospital, and he arranged for the girls to come in extra early, before the department has their first appointment and have it done then.” She turned to face him, saying, “You won’t give us away, will you? This could have bad repercussions for my friend and me.”

“Of course not, Dr. Langley,” he replied.

We piled into my car and headed to the hospital. I leaned my head against the cool glass, closing my eyes, pretending to sleep while Ben drove. We pulled in the garage and parked. I looked at my watch; it was