Tell Me What You Want—Or Leave Me

by Maxwell, Megan

  I don’t talk. If I do, it’ll just get worse.

  Eric sits by my side and touches my head.

  “I hate that you’re in pain, and I can’t do anything about it.”

  “I hate it even more,” I say.

  Poor guy. What a look on his face.

  “Don’t worry about it, my love,” I whisper as I snuggle up to him. “It will soon pass, and I won’t be in pain again until next month.”

  My blond boy hugs me, and, still crampy, I fall fast asleep.

  When I wake up, we’re flying, and I’m alone in my seat. Eric is with Dexter and Juan Alberto, but as soon as he hears me move, he’s at my side.

  “Hello, sweetheart. How are you feeling?”

  I blink a few times and realize my pain is gone.

  “Right this instant, perfect. I’m pain-free.”

  “That was a nice little nap you took.”

  “How long was I sleeping?”

  “Three hours,” he says, caressing my hair and kissing my forehead.

  “Three hours!”

  “Yes, my love.” He laughs.

  I’m surprised I slept that long.

  “Do you want something to eat?”

  I nod. I’ve slept like a polar bear, and now I’m ravenous.

  At that moment, Graciela emerges from the bathroom. When she sees me, her eyes sparkle, and she comes quickly to sit by my side.

  “I’ll tell the flight attendant to bring you two something to eat,” Eric says.

  “Dexter asked me where I was last night,” she whispers conspiratorially.

  “And what did you tell him?”

  “That I had dinner with a friend.”

  “Did you have a good time with your friends?” I ask, remembering she was meeting a couple.

  “They were floored with my new look, and we had a very good time,” says a smiling Graciela.

  We both laugh aloud, which draws the attention of the men. Eric grins, but Dexter is very serious.

  “Wow . . . somebody is not very happy.”

  “Dexter wanted to know my friend’s name, and, when I wouldn’t tell him, he got really pissed,” she says in a low voice.

  I smile at that.

  “He barely said a word at dinner last night and spent the whole meal checking the time. When Eric and I went to bed, he stayed up by himself.”

  “When I came back at three in the morning, he was right there, awake.”

  “What?”

  “Yes,” she says, laughing. “He was in the living room, reading. When I came in, he didn’t say a word, and I went straight to my room. A few minutes later, I heard him go to his room.”

  I look over and see Dexter watching us. I’m a little surprised that this seems to have worked so well.

  “Let me see if I understand, Graciela. When you’ve flirted with Dexter in the past, he’s never responded?”

  “Never.”

  “But what did he say?”

  The flight attendant brings us a pair of trays with a smorgasbord of treats.

  “The last time I tried, which must’ve been about a year ago, he told me not to do it again because he couldn’t give me any of the things I wanted, and he didn’t want to disappoint me.”

  “I see . . .”

  “I remember I was really hurt, and I didn’t talk to him for almost a month. In fact, I looked for another job, and, when he realized what I was doing, he was furious. He didn’t want me to work for anyone else. And then, incredibly, he doubled my salary the next month. When I told him I hadn’t asked for a raise, he said that since he couldn’t give me what I wanted, he could at least try to make me happy financially so that I wouldn’t work for anyone else.”

  Well, well . . . there’s a lot going on here!

  “Mother of God, Graciela,” I say, “what you just told me confirms that he likes you, and a whole lot.”

  “No . . .”

  “Then why would he give you a raise without you asking?”

  “I don’t know. Dexter is very loose with money.”

  “Could it be he’s very loose with it when it comes to you because he likes you?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, that’s what I think. No boss doubles a salary just because.”

  “You think?”

  I nod. I still remember when Eric suggested I go with him on that trip to all the German branches and told me to name my own salary.

  “I’m telling you, Graciela, that man is drooling for you.”

  “Oh God,” she says, blushing a deep red.

  Dexter’s watching us again. I wink at him. Poor man, if only he knew what we were talking about. He smiles and looks away.

  “Oh, Graciela, people say women are strange, but men are so strange too.” We both laugh. “I’m telling you, Dexter likes you as much as you like him. He’s overreacting to what you did last night, making it clear that he’s interested.”

  “Oh, Judith . . . don’t say that; it makes me nervous.”

  We laugh again. “It’s only going to get worse when we get to Jerez and my friends start flirting with you left and right.”

  Our arrival in Jerez is a very big deal.

  My father wants to get us at the airport, but Eric has already made arrangements. We’re greeted by a man who hands us the keys to an eight-seat Mitsubishi Montero, the exact copy of what we drive in Germany.

  “I bought this so we could have it at our disposal when we come to Jerez,” Eric says when he sees the surprise on my face. “Is that OK by you?”

  I nod and smile. Eric likes to be in control.

  We all laugh and have a good time on the way to Jerez. When we arrive at the house Eric bought me, I see a new sign that says “Sweetheart Villa.” I crack up, as does my husband.

  I give him a kiss. I’m grinning like a fool as he takes the remote out of the glove compartment to open the black gate. I love his surprises, and when I see the house is so well taken care of, I get emotional. He tells me he asked my dad to contract with somebody to keep up the place even when we’re not here. As soon as the car stops, I’m the first to jump out.

  “Welcome to our home in Jerez,” I tell our guests.

  As soon as I’m in the house, I call my dad to let him know we’ll be over at his place in an hour. He’s made dinner and is happily waiting for us with my sister and the kids.

  As the hostess of Sweetheart Villa, I quickly figure out who is sleeping where. There are enough bedrooms for everyone, and, after we’ve all had a chance to shower and change, we climb back into the Mitsubishi and head over to my father’s house.

  I can’t wait to see him.

  When we park the car, I see Flyn and Luz come running toward us.

  These beautiful children!

  They throw themselves on me, and I hug them back. “Auntie . . . Auntie,” says an excited Luz, “what did you bring me?”

  “What did you bring me?” asks Flyn.

  “A bunch of gifts, don’t worry. Now come and say hi.”

  But Flyn is already hugging his uncle Eric, and I’m moved, like always, when I see how much they love each other. All of a sudden, my niece, who can sometimes be dumber than a rock, launches herself on them, and Eric loses his balance, and the three end up splattered on the ground.

  Dexter and our other guests laugh. “Jude, help me!” Eric calls out to me.

  He stretches his hand to me, but when I take it, he yanks me down, and I end up on the ground with him and the kids. Love and laughter, that’s what he makes me feel.

  When we finally get up, my father is there, his arms outstretched.

  “And how is my little sweetheart?”

  I rush over and hug him.

  I love my father so much.

  “I’m doing great, Papá,” I say. “I’m happy and crazy in love with Mr. Bullheaded.”

  Eric shakes my father’s hand and hugs him and introduces him to Dexter, Juan Alberto, and Graciela. Before we go in the house, we have to greet the neighbors, who
have all come out to say hello.

  “Papá, where is Raquel?”

  “She’s finishing up giving Lucía a bath, my love. She’s in your room.”

  I run back to my old room, and there’s my crazy sister, toweling down her baby, who’s now a little more than a month old, on the changing table. I smell her perfume and hug her from the back.

  “Hello.”

  “Cuchu!” she responds.

  We hug and kiss. We have so many things to talk about that we both talk all over each other until baby Lucía makes a noise, and the two of us instantly turn to her.

  “My God, I can’t believe how big she’s gotten!”

  Raquel nods and starts babbling as she touches the baby’s cheeks. “She’s so big, so fat, isn’t that right, you pretty little thing?”

  I give the baby a kiss, sniff her sweetness, and pick up where my sister left off.

  “Hello, you little cutie. I could eat you up . . . Oh, I could eat this pretty little girl up from head to toe.”

  “Say hi to your auntie,” insists my sister as she takes the baby’s hand and waves at me. “Hello, Auntie. I’m Lucía.”

  “Hello, little love.”

  And then we are lost in our jabber.

  And then the baby closes her eyes. I’m sure if she could talk, she’d tell us to stop acting like such idiots.

  Lucía sneezes, and my sister responds by finishing dressing her immediately.

  “I made you what you wanted, and it’s in the kitchen.”

  “You made me a chocolate cake?”

  “Yes.” She grins.

  “You have no idea what it took to make it behind the kids’ back, but I did it. Anything for my brother-in-law. It’s in Tupperware in the back of the fridge, behind the Cokes.”

  Tomorrow is our one-month wedding anniversary, and I want to surprise my husband.

  “Cuchufleta, go on with your guests, Lucía and I will join you soon.”

  I kiss her and run out to the garden where everyone has settled around the table to drink beer. Dexter and my father are talking about planting roses. They’re beautiful. They’re the most beautiful roses I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Eric and Flyn are trading stories, and Graciela and Juan Alberto listen in.

  “Auntie, Uncle Eric says you should give us our gifts,” Luz says as soon as she sees me.

  “What I said was that you bought them, and you—”

  “No way, my love,” I say. “We bought these gifts together, and we will give them out together.”

  The kids can’t stop staring at the suitcase full of gifts. Eric finally lifts it up on the table and opens it, and we pass the gifts out for the kids and for my father.

  The kids are tearing into their packages when, all of a sudden, as if there was an earthquake, my sister comes down, her hair gathered on her head, the baby in one arm, and her cell in the other hand. Without so much as blinking, she drops Lucía in the arms of a very disconcerted Juan Alberto, who has no idea what to do with an infant.

  “Look, that’s a no,” she says into the phone. “It doesn’t work for me this weekend. I have other plans.”

  Everyone’s staring at her. There’s no point in saying anything to her when she’s like that. I look over at my father, who shakes his head as a salty Raquel walks over to the pool and then comes to a dead stop. “I said no. I don’t want to see you, Jesús. Forget about me. Go ahead and talk to your lawyer, but do me a favor and pay the monthly child support for the girls because I need it. Did you hear me? I need it!”

  But my ex-brother-in-law, that idiot, must’ve said something because she takes it up a serious notch.

  “Fuck you and your father and your mother and every living creature in your family! I could give three shits about your situation! And do you know why?” Everyone is staring, and you could hear a pin drop. “Because I’ve got two girls I’ve got to support, and I need the money. So, just save the money you would have used on the trip because I don’t want to see you. And whatever you save, you can deposit in the bank, because the girls need to eat and a thousand other things. What? You’re a shameless asshole with a Peter Pan complex. Grow up . . . you idiot, grow up! And don’t ask me again if we can see each other tomorrow because, I swear, if I say yes, it’ll be only so I can slap you hard across the face.”

  Amazed by what I’m hearing, I don’t know what to do. My God, my sister can really give it back. Suddenly, I realize Luz is hearing the same thing I am, and my blood starts to boil. Eric and I exchange looks.

  “Look, Luz, did you see the SpongeBob SquarePants camera I got you?” Eric asks her.

  Just hearing the name SpongeBob SquarePants makes my niece turn around and forget all about her mom’s conversation.

  “Wow, Uncle Eric!”

  Mercifully, the yellow digital camera with SpongeBob is the only thing that matters in that moment. I’m so glad Eric responded so quickly.

  Eric gives Flyn another camera, but this one has Mortal Kombat characters; the two of them go nuts. Graciela springs into action and distracts them by pulling them away from the phone conversation. My sister is really giving it to her ex!

  Anguished, my father goes to her to try to calm her down. Poor man, he really has his hands full with Raquel and me. And seeing Juan Alberto disconcerted with the baby in his arms, I rush over to take her from him.

  I think if he’d had the baby one more second, he wouldn’t have been able to breathe. He literally sighs when he hands her to me. He is so relieved!

  “Hi, Cucurucucu . . . I’m gonna eat your cheeks. Yes, I am!” I say, holding her close to my face.

  The baby stares at me. She surely thinks I’m some kind of fool.

  “You look good with a baby in your arms, Judith,” says Dexter.

  I turn to him and see all three men have their eyes on me. But my husband’s face gets a special mention. His expression is beatific and soft, and he’s wearing a radiant smile.

  “You look beautiful with a baby,” he says.

  Uff . . . my neck is starting to itch!

  No, I don’t want to talk about babies or any other such nonsense.

  I start to look for someone to hand the baby to, and Eric comes over with open arms. I deliver her to him as if she were a delicate package.

  “Hello . . . Hello, beautiful . . . I’m your uncle Eric. How’s my gorgeous girl?”

  Eric sits next to Dexter, and the two of them babble at her. I glance over at my father. I can read his lips as he is asking Raquel to take it easy. Suddenly, she slams her cell phone down on a table. She’s furious, and when my sister is furious there’s no stopping her.

  She finally looks over at me, and when I’m about to say something, she suddenly changes expression as if she were the greatest actor in Hollywood.

  “Hello, brother-in-law,” she says, turning to Eric, “how’s it going?”

  “Good. And you?”

  Raquel shrugs. “Like my father says, screwed but happy.”

  She and Eric exchange a couple of quick cheek kisses.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asks.

  Raquel nods, and Dexter takes ahold of her hands. “What’s going on with this handsome Spanish girl?” he asks.

  My sister sighs and looks around, and, when she sees Luz is nowhere near, tries to explain. “My ex is trying to drive me crazy, but I’ll have him committed first!”

  Eric’s eyes widen.

  “Raquel,” I say quickly, “let me introduce you to Juan Alberto. He’s Dexter’s cousin and will be in Spain for a few days.”

  “Charmed,” she says, barely looking at him.

  I notice he can’t take his eyes off her.

  “Man, what a woman,” he whispers to Dexter.

  Graciela brings Luz and Flyn back, and they take pictures of us with their new cameras. A half hour later, my father presents us with a sumptuous meal in which there is no lack of delicious ham, shrimp, roasted meats, and tomato soup.

  The next morning, my alarm clock goes
off at six thirty in the morning. I quickly put a stop to it.

  I’m so sleepy! But I want to get up and surprise Eric.

  It’s our wedding anniversary. One month! And I want to make him breakfast in bed.

  He’s sleeping, and, like always, I feel a tremendous desire to cuddle him. Of course, if I cuddle him, I’ll wake him, and I won’t be able to give him his surprise.

  I get up stealthily, go to the bathroom, and close the door. I quickly take off my pj’s, wash, put on the T-shirt I bought Eric, and comb my hair. My period is over. Yay!

  I look at myself in the mirror, smile approvingly, and sneak out of the room. When I get to the kitchen, I look behind the Cokes in the fridge like my sister told me, and there’s the pink Tupperware.

  Raquel is an artist when it comes to cakes.

  I quickly grab a tray and prepare a couple of café con leches. I get little plates, spoons, and napkins and place the beautiful cake in the middle and a knife to cut it with by its side.

  This looks great!

  I take a picture of it with my cell phone. It is, after all, our first month of married life.

  Happy to be surprising my man, I go back to the bedroom, come up to the bed, and put the cake on my side of the bed as I sing a little song I made up. I carefully set the tray down on the side table.

  Happy . . . happy . . . onemonthofmarriedlife.

  German guy who hooked up with a Spanish girl,

  I hope you are happy at my side

  And that there will be many, many more.

  Eric opens his eyes and smiles when he hears me. Usually, it’s the other way around, and he is waking me up. He grins when he sees the T-shirt I’m wearing.

  “Happy one-month anniversary, my treasure! We’ve been married thirty days.”

  He hugs me and throws me on top of him, then tries to imitate a Mexican accent to read my T-shirt. “Viva la morenita!”

  We both laugh.

  “They’ve been the best thirty days of my life,” he says. “Now I want to go for much more.”

  His mouth searches for mine and kisses me. Incredible. His breath is sweet even when he first wakes up.

  He licks my upper lip . . . then my lower lip, and finally he does that little marvelous nibble thing . . . oh yes.