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

fell in love with it. I was going to text you and ask if I could borrow it but the new agent that’s with us would not leave me alone for one second. It made me very nervous and I got a little flustered. So, then I forgot about even calling you and look at me, here I am again forgetting.” She added, “I hope you don’t mind? I really love it.”

“Take it. It’s yours,” I said in a cheery voice. “Call it an early birthday present. Besides, it must not mean that much to me if I forgot I even had it.”

“Oh, thank you, Isabel!” She kissed and hugged me. She took both purses and began to transfer the contents from her old purse to the purse I had just given her. She pulled out a tampon and an asthma inhaler first and gingerly laid them on the coffee table before she turned her purse upside down and dumped the rest of the contents on the couch between us.

Confused as to why she would be so careful with a tampon, I lean forward and picked it up. I turned it around and every which way – it was just a tampon, I concluded. I could understand her not wanting to damage her inhaler, but why the tampon? She could just buy more. And before I could ask her anything, she took it out of my hands.

“Isa, this is not a tampon,” she answered my unspoken question. “This is a special locating device my friend gave me when I arrived in Kosovo.” She opened the resealable wrapping and took it out. It was exactly the same shape as a tampon and just as compact. It was black in color and the texture of the tube was a much thicker plastic. It also had an on-off switch. She turned it on and a soft red light came on at the tip of the fake tampon. I took it out of her hands to inspect it more closely.

“A locating device?” I ask quizzically.

“Yes,” she answered. “It was a sort of safety net for everyone in my group when we were in Kosovo. If we ever got separated from each other or if any of us were kidnapped we would turn this on and it would emit a silent signal so we could be found. Our guide had the receiver to track this thing if we ever had to use it.”

“Can you… I mean are you supposed to put it inside of you like a tampon?” I asked, frowning at the thought.

“I suppose you can if it came down to it,” she said laughing.

“But what about the men? They can’t carry tampons. That would be too obvious and weird, to say the least.”

She giggled, “Yes that would be weird. No, they gave the men this inhaler.” She reached for the asthma inhaler on the table. “It works the same way, only the power switch is when you depress the inhaler. In other words, the person would pretend to take a puff of the inhaler and that would activate it.” She handed it to me, grinning. “Pretty cool, eh?”

“Yeah, that is super cool,” I replied. “Can I keep the tampon?”

She let out a squeaky laugh. “Of course, I only need one.”

“Thank you!” I said, grinning like a kindergartner that just got a new toy. I stared at it like it was some sort of alien, turning the switch on and off several times. Belín smirked at me, shaking her head. I placed it in my jeans pocket. Yup, it fit just like a tampon, too.

Ben made his way to us and sat in one of the chairs closest to Belín. She offered him her coffee without saying a word; he took it out of her hand and began to sip. My eyes flickered to the other agent, wondering if he noticed. He was in front of my computer with his back to us, preoccupied with whatever assignment was entrusted to him, so it seemed he didn’t notice a thing. Belín got up in search of the latté my mother bought for Ben and oh so tenderly grazed Ben’s cheek with the back of her hand as she passed him. He didn’t react. Amazing, I told myself. Her movements and behavior were so slight and fluid that unless one was looking for it, it was unnoticeable. Ben looked up from his phone and gazed at Belín. Their eyes held each other’s gaze for just a second as Ben gave her a loving smile. It was so romantic and private I almost felt like I was a voyeur hiding in a closet, watching them. I blushed and looked down at my coffee, feeling like an intruder on such a private moment.

“Isabel,” Ben began, “we have your dog in the car downstairs but we can’t very well leave him there for too long. What would you like us to do with him?”

“Bring him up the back way. He can stay in my office with me until it’s time for therapy. I think the kids would like to meet my furry baby.”

“I’ll do that now since Pam and Conny have stepped out.” He took a big sip of his coffee and mouthed something to Belín before he walked out. She wiggled her eyebrows in response. I sunk into the loveseat, thinking about my beautiful Adonis and missing him, feeling jealous of Belín and Ben. In a few hours they would be alone together without prying eyes and Conny would be none the wiser about their secret relationship or their feelings for one another. Why, oh why couldn’t that be Josh and I?

“Honey, what’s that matter?” My mother startled me from my introspection.

“Mom! I didn’t see you come in. Any new gossip from Vanessa?” I sipped my latté. “Nothing’s the matter, why do you ask?”

“Vanessa has just bought a