Tuesday Tales – Library

                                 

A long silence lingered.  The sound of the icemaker echoed throughout the house.  Pia was at a loss for words.  Lisa had been her best friend since grammar school.  How could she have betrayed her like this?

Pia stood.  She couldn’t even look at Lisa.  At this point, she was disgusted with her.  As far as she was concerned, her friendship with her was completely over.  Her betrayal had crushed her.  Now she wondered through all these years if the advice she had given her was right.

And don’t forget about all the help she gave Lisa thinking that she was up to her neck in debt.  All Lisa complained about was she had no money.  So every pay check, Pia would give her friend fifty dollars and paid her part of the bills. 

“I have only one question for you.  Why?”  Pia asked.

Lisa kept her head down as she spoke.  “I had no other choice.”

“You had plenty of choices.  You could have done like everyone else did and took out a student loan.”

“Come on Pia.  You know where I came from. You were lucky to have parents who took care of you.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”  Pia poked Lisa.  “I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me why you betrayed our friendship.”

“I can’t.”

“Then tell me about Larry’s big plan.”

Lisa lifted her head until their eyes met.  “I’m so sorry Pia.  Larry had mapped out the perfect plan.”

“Okay.  Continue.  I don’t want to have to pull it out of you.  Just tell me the story from the beginning. Please.  You at least owe me that much.”

Lisa sighed.  “Okay.  I have nothing to lose at this point.  I know I already lost your friendship, so I should at least tell you the truth.”

“That would be nice,” Pia snapped.

“Me and Larry started our affair when I was sixteen.”

“What?” Her mouth dropped open.  “Was he the one I kept covering you for?”

“Yes.” 

Lisa reached her hand out to Pia, but Pia stood up, walking away from her.

“I don’t believe it.”

“You’re marriage, is bogus.  I did some research at the law library when Larry handed me the old stamp.  When we made the marriage certificate, we stamped it.”

“What are you telling me?”

“You’re not married to Larry.   I drew up paperwork for Larry.  When you found the policies, he was going to cut a deal with you to pay him off by giving up your half of the business.  Then I would draw up phony divorce papers, and we would sign them outside of court.”

Pia threw her hands up in the air, placing them on her hips.  “Are you telling me that I am not married to that bastard?”

“Yes.”

“You son of a bitch.”  Pia walked over the Lisa.  With her hand shaking she screamed, “Get the fuck out of my house, now and don’t ever call or contact me ever again.”

“Please Pia…”

Pia grabbed her briefcase and pocketbook off the couch, walked to the front door and threw them out on the front lawn.  “Get out!”

Lisa walked to the door and turned around to face her. “Please…”

Pia slammed the door shut in her face.  She wasn’t married.  “I got to call Lorenzo,” she cried, walking into the kitchen and lifting up her phone.

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Tuesday Tales – Bite

                                       

        

Pia shook her head so hard, she’d swear she felt her brain shift.  Something didn’t seem right.  It wasn’t like Lisa to hold back information from her.  They had been childhood friends, sharing every milestone in their lives.  While Lisa attended law school, Pia started working.  They shared an apartment, with Pia picking up most of the tab.  They were best friends, sisters.

“Start talking, Lisa.  I know you well enough to know you are holding back something from me.”

“I’m not,” Lisa snapped.  “You would never understand.”

“Why don’t you try me?  You never had any problem talking to me in the past.  Why is it that all of a sudden you are closed lipped?”

Lisa crossed her arms and paced back and forth from the living room to the kitchen.  Pia was on the verge of lashing out at her, but instead bit her lip.  She knew Lisa well enough that if she pushed her over the edge, she would shut down.  But she had to try.

“Talk to me,” Pia said tapping her foot on the floor.  “I want to know the truth.  Don’t play with me.”

“If I tell you, I lost your trust.”

“Please, stop talking in circle,” Pia lashed out.  “What have you done to make me even think that?  Do you realize that because of this situation, I more than likely lost Lorenzo?”

“I’ll go to him, tell him the truth, let him you know you did nothing wrong.”  Lisa sat down on the couch and covered her face with her hands.  “I’m so sorry,” she kept saying between tears.  “I never expected things to get so out of hand.”

“What things?  You’re talking in circles again.”

“Lorenzo really loves you.  I don’t thing he’s going to leave you.”

“I’m married to that scumbag.  He tricked me into marrying him.  Lorenzo will never forgive me.  I know he doesn’t believe me.  The whole story sounds obscure.”

“I promise to talk to him.  Make it right.  He has to believe me.”

Pia took a deep breath.  Her friend sat nervously on the couch, with her left leg shaking up and down.  Right then, she knew her best friend, confidant had betrayed her.  Now she was bound and determined to find out what she did.

“Spit it out, Lisa.  Tell me what you did.  I need to know.”

“Promise me you won’t hate me.”

“I can’t make a promise I might not be able to keep.”

Pia kept her eyes on Lisa.  Her friend was nervous with the look of guilt written all over her face.  She’d patiently wait to hear exactly what Lisa did to deceive her. 

“The whole marriage is a farce,” Lisa dropped here eyes to her lap.  “You were never married to Larry.  It was a con game which was being played on you all these years.”

“What?” she yelled.  “And what is your involvement in this?”

“Do you remember that grant I receive for law school?  The one I didn’t have to pay back.”

“Yes I do.  But what does that have to do with anything?”

“The money came from Larry.  I didn’t have to pay it back if I went along with his plan.”

“Which is?”

“Screwing you over.”

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Cuddle Up With a Contemporary Romance Blog Hop

Welcome to Cuddle Up With A Contemporary Romance Blog Hop this weekend May 18th - 19th.  Sit down, relax and curl up and visit the Secret Cravings Publishing Blog to visit the other awesome Contemporary Romance authors.  Click Here.

 Who wouldn't want a man to bring them countless bouquets of roses?  Nikki Petrino does in my debut novel Roses. 

Who would think their morning walk down at the Staten Island Boardwalk would result in meeting a hot undercover detective, landing them into a sea of trouble?  Brooklyn DeMelli does in The Boardwalk.

The bond of friendship is golden.  Four women's lives are intertwined together.  But would you believe that if one of those friends touch your head, you can get a heads up on the future?  Just ask Madison, Cassie, Fay and their psychic friend, Shari Stafford in Mystical Wonders - Circle of Friends (Book 1).

Can one man be so arrogant and vindictive?  And does candle magic really work? Yes, and Fay Odina can vouch for that in Mystical Wonders - Second Chances (Book 2). 

Tell me how you met your partner, to be eligible to win a copy of your book choice.  

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Tuesday Tales – Picture Prompt

 

Welcome to this weeks edition of Tuesday Tales to the picture prompt above.  This week I'm introducing a new character, Francine Raggalio.  This will be the opening scene of my book "Extra Innings", which will be part of a series.

Francine Raggalio walked passed the row of stores in the quiet town of Rossville looking for six thousand, thirty-nine Hylan Boulevard.   She wasn’t too familiar with the south shore of Staten Island, since she was born and raised on the east shore.  The new development sat in the middle of undeveloped land.  This strip had become one of the up and coming areas on the island.

A few days before, she received a certified letter asking her to attend the reading of a will the following morning.  The attorney was closed lipped about the contents, just saying that Lorraine Matthews had died and she was named in her will.  Francine found this odd, not knowing who Lorraine was.

At the reading of the will, the attorney had her an envelope, which contained the ownership and deed to a retail store that hadn’t been occupied in years.  It seemed that many years previous, Francine had delivered Lorraine’s husband medicine on a weekly basis because neither one of them were able to come to pick it up.  Francine vaguely remembered, since she had done this for many customers, which months later, led to her losing her job.  But to her, she did what she felt needed to be done.

At the end of the five block development was an old building with a metal gate that was covered in graffiti, causing the building to be an eye sore.  Reaching into the envelope, she took out three keys.  She opened the gate and rolled it up to expose a full glass front window.  Opening the door, she walked into the sunlit room, which was fully furnished.  On further investigating, the building turned out to be a restaurant, equipped with a full kitchen.

Francine stood in the middle of the room, shaking her head side to side.  “What the hell am I going to do with this?”



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Tuesday Tales – Laughter

          

By the time Lisa arrived, Pia was totally out of control.  In between blowing her nose and crying, her words were barely recognizable.  They sat on the couch and Pia rested her head on Lisa’s shoulder.

“What am I going to do?” Pia asked when her tears had dried out.

“There is nothing you can do.  You need to give Lorenzo time to sort through things.  I’m sure he was just as shocked as you were.”

Pia sat up and turned sideways on the couch to face Lisa.  “You have to help me.”

“I am.  I brought the paperwork with me to go over.”  Lisa grabbed her briefcase off the floor.  “I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you the way I should be.  But this case I am involved in is taking up all my time.”

“Are you still working on the adoption case with the mother who left her baby in the ally to die?”

“Yes.  We had the preliminary hearing the other day, free up my time.  So I did some more research into this bogus marriage.”

“And what did you find out?”

“The seal hasn’t been in use since 1983.  I have a contact in Vegas who is trying to track down where the seal came from.”

Pia stood, crossing her arms tightly against her chest.  “What did you do in Vegas when you went to investigate things last week?  I would think you would have had found out more information by now.”

“I went through the books down at city hall going back to marriages performed on the day you were married.”

“And what did you come up with?” She asked staring down at her.

“That seal wasn’t on any of the other marriage certificates issued on that day.”

Pia gave a sarcastic laugh.  “So I see.”  She uncrossed her arms and pointed at Lisa.  “What do you suppose happened that day?”

“I don’t…”

“What are you hiding Lisa?  What did you find out that you aren’t telling me?”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

“I know you long enough to know when you are lying.  Tell me,” Pia lashed out.

Lisa stood.  She put her head down, not making eye contact with Pia.  After a few minutes of silence, she whispered,  “I cant.”

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