Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (book club recommendations txt) 📗

“Don’t be. I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to see him to begin with but there’s no arguing with my mother. I trust you’ll explain the situation to her?” I managed a weak smile and reached for my medicine.

“Yes, I’ll let her know and I can have an agent take her, if you’d like,” he offered. I eyed him speculatively.

“Ben, is he in pain? Is he okay?”

“Not too much. His doctor is making sure to keep him comfortable, and he should recover.” He gave a reassuring smile before leaving.

Why did I miss Josh? I hardly knew him. And why was I bothered that he might be in some pain or discomfort? Again, we had only just met and I hardly knew him. We hadn’t had any time together to develop any real or strong feelings for one another… so why was he saying those things? What was it about this man? Why couldn’t I stop thinking about him? He may have gotten under my skin too but I was not ready to admit that to myself. It was just too soon… wasn’t it?

13

I took my medicines, including the pain pill. It was a little over four hours since the last one so I didn’t think twice. I wanted to feel numb. I was getting ready for bed when Belín came bouncing in, happy as happy can be and humming to herself. She let herself fall on my bed and laid there staring at the ceiling.

“Well, someone had a good night.” I sat next to her on the bed, buttoning my p.j. top.

“Oh, Isabel, he is sooo wonderful,” Belín gushed. “He is very well read, has been to Spain several times and is familiar with my favorite restaurants in Madrid. He is very interested in the story I am investigating and he said I have beautiful green eyes and he thinks I have a charming accent.”

“So does every other man you meet,” I said with sarcasm in my voice.

“Yes, yes,” she agreed, waving off my comment. “But those were stupid boys. I actually like this one.” She let out big sigh.

“Does he like you? He looks like he likes you.” I got up to brush my teeth.

She jumped up, saying, “I think so…I hope so…” and sat down on the chair, thinking about my question, no doubt, and started digging through her suitcase. “Isabel, do you have any cute nightgowns I can borrow? Everything I have is very ugly and I do not want Ben to see me in that.”

I laughed out loud. “You are so good at this. I get it, you’re going to be sleeping with me since my mom has the other room and you know Ben will be closer to me so you want to make sure he sees sleeping beauty. Love it!” I chimed. “I should have something. Help yourself, they are all in my armoire.” She picked a shirt nightgown that fell to middle of her thigh. It was white satin, long sleeved with buttons running down the front and a V-neck showing just enough cleavage where anyone’s eye would automatically go. It was the perfect combination of sexy and classy. She went into the bathroom to shower. I told her to use the lavender bath gel and the lavender lotion after. I climbed into bed with my book. The pain meds still hadn’t kicked in so I had time to read for a bit. I loved reading in bed. It relaxed me and cleared my mind. It always soothed me and put me to sleep. Belín walked out looking like a new person. The nightgown was a little long on her since she wasn’t as tall as me, but she looked lovely just the same.

I whistled at her. “Are you wearing lip-gloss?”

“Just a little. A girl has to be prepared, you know.” She fished her laptop out of her backpack and climbed into bed with me. “I’m going to work on my story for a few minutes while my hair dries.”

“No problem,” I said and turned off my lamp. I got under the covers to go to sleep. I could feel the medication working and fell into a blissful slumber.

Something startled me but my eyes would not open. I could hear some noise but couldn’t make out what it was. I didn’t care, I just wanted to sleep some more. I tried rolling over but realized I couldn’t move. I tried rolling the other direction and still couldn’t move. This did not feel right. I started to make out voices now and people talking in rapid succession.

People were yelling in English and Spanish… it sounded echoey. I couldn’t make sense of this dream… I couldn’t see anything either. I wanted to open my eyes but couldn’t. I heard my mother’s voice yelling for Ben. Belín and Charlie were talking extremely fast in Spanish but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Ben and another man came in. I tried opening my eyes so I could see who it was, but still couldn’t. My head was starting to hurt. I tried to raise my hand to my head but I couldn’t do that either. What was happening?

“You were the only doctor treating her!” Ben was yelling at someone unusually loud, so out of character for him. He sounded infuriated. “This is phenobarbital and hydrocodone! You potentially put her in a coma! By the grace of God, she’s still alive! Barely!”

I’m in a coma? Surely, I was not dead since I could hear everyone. I didn’t feel any pain either, just my head starting to hurt. My body felt heavy and limp but I could hear everyone clearly.

“These are not the meds I prescribed!” That was David’s voice. David was already here? “Isabel, can you hear me? Isabel, baby, can you squeeze my hand?” He was opening my eyelids