Chapter 86: I Can Handle the Truth

It was Friday morning, just 24 hours until he had to come to a conclusion about the future of his marriage. He was looking forward to a quiet breakfast alone, but perhaps he did not arise early enough.

“Good morning, Uncle Brandon! How are you feeling?”

“I’m ok,” he said tersely.

“Oh,” she said slightly taken aback.

She started to chow down on her leftover pasta when she suddenly remembered something.

“Is Aunt Amira on a business trip or something? I haven’t seen her in about a week!”

“She’s, ummm,” he stammered. “I’m sorry. Excuse me.”

“Oh! Ok….Uncle Brandon?”

He abandoned his breakfast and dashed upstairs to his room before the floodgates opened. He hadn’t realized how much he missed her until just then, but he was still unsure of what he was going to do. He still felt like he had been deceived in a way.

A few hours later, he was repairing a sink downstairs when he was interrupted again.

“Dad…I’m ready to know about mom. I know she isn’t just on vacation. I can handle the truth,” Lance confessed.

“Oh, my sweet boy. No son can ever handle the truth about his mother. I should know.”

“I have to know! I’ll handle it.”

“Ok.”

“I don’t know what happened. Our relationship was getting stale. I started noticing it after Allen was born. Anyway, to make a long story short, we talked about it and we both felt the same way. We started talking about how things used to be and what we missed from our dating life. Then she confessed that the person I married was not the real Amira.”

“What?!”

“Pretty much what she said was that she liked me soo much that she made herself into a person I would like just so she could be with me…and I married that person. But it turns out she had no interests in continuing to be that person.”

“So who is she then?”

“Well…that’s not for your innocent ears, but…let’s just say I liked talking and she liked…other things.”

“I’m not 12, Dad. I know what you’re getting at. So why did she leave?”

“I asked her to. I thought it would be best if we had some time apart to think things through and figure out if we can move forward or not.”

“Oh. So…do you?”

“I’m not sure, son.”

“But what about going to counseling or something?”

“If we decide to make it work, we will. But my problem is I feel deceived. I don’t know if I want to continue feeling that way.”

“Oh, Dad. I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. Let’s get out of this bathroom and talk man to man.”

“Does anyone interest you, son?”

“Ummm…I don’t know. I mean, I was friends with this girl in high school, and we got pretty close, but we haven’t kept in touch.”

“Well, when that special someone comes into your life, don’t let her pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to do. Spend as much time with her as possible. Know her like your own reflection before you propose to her.”

“Did you feel pressured by mom?”

“Well…she was pressuring me in other ways, but I really liked your mother. We had a very good friendship. She was my best friend…at least the person whom I thought she was. I’d be a fool not to admit that I had a couple concerns. I never stopped to consider why she wanted to be in my bed so bad. At the time I didn’t care. I was just glad someone as beautiful as she wanted to be in my bed. Don’t be desperate. If you like a certain type of girl, then wait for her. Don’t settle for just anyone!”

“Thank you for sharing this with me, Dad. It means a lot. And whatever you decided about mom…I’ll be ok with it.”

“Thank you, son. That means a lot to me.”