CARMENKate stared at me like a deer caught in the brightness of headlights, but she was quick and smart to smooth it out with a bright smile.“Carmen! What a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?” She hugged me as tight as possible, only pulling away when I made the first move to get out of her arms.“I came here to get something tested. You know, regular checkups and all of that.” I waved off with feigned nonchalance. “And you? You used to be scared of hospitals, remember? What are you doing here all of a sudden?”“I used to be scared of hospitals when I was still a child. Now, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I have to come here once in a while. I came to get some test results for my parents while they’re away.” I could see her trying to smoothen the skirt of her dress, which was not even ruffled, but I didn’t want to point out how nervous she was. In fact, I was eager to leave.“I’ll see you around, yeah? With the whole honeymoon coming and everything else,” I reminded

CARMENI stopped in my tracks, turning back to my mother and staring at her in utter disbelief. She stared back at me with pride, as if she had not just told me the worst thing that I could hear from her.“What do you still have the video for? You told me that you deleted it,” I pointed out, my tone holding accusation.“Well, I may have misspoke. Also, I had a suspicion that it could still come in handy sometime soon. I know how much you barely keep to your business, Carmen. This would have happened sooner or later, and it grieves me that it came sooner than I prepared for.”“So it’s true?” I scoffed. “You have been poisoning Steve?”“You wouldn’t understand,” she said and shook her head. “You’re barely twenty. I’m doing everything I can for you, I swear. I fear that the only time you’re going to realize this is when you have succeeded in putting us in trouble, or when I’m dead—”“Stop trying to manipulate me!” I yelled at her, walking back towards her.“Why are you doing this? Do you

CARMENI couldn’t tell if I wanted to hear the next words that Jasper would say, especially when he looked the way he did – panicked and barely even able to stand on his feet as he attempted to get off the bed.“What…what’s wrong with your mother, Jasper?” I stuttered, my heart thudding faster than I had ever felt it thud before.“Terri told me that she only wanted to make her some soup when she started to have strange seizures,” he reported, placing his phone to his ear as he started to dial a number with the SIM he had gotten from the airport.“Doctor Gerber, I need you to report to my house as soon as you possibly can. My mother is having a strange reaction to something, she’s alone with her caretaker, and I am all the way in Belize to drive her to the hospital by myself,” he said into the phone.In an attempt to calm him down, I headed for him and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder as I whispered calming words to him.“She’s going to be fine,” I gave my words of reassurance, b

CARMEN“How are you feeling?” I asked as I walked into the ward that Dave had been put in. His face was still a bit bloated, but the smile he had on his face was enough for me to figure out that he was doing better and he really had recovered.“Not very great, but not horrible either.” He grunted as he sat up and gestured for me to walk over to him, which I did.“You shouldn’t have sent the doctor to tell Kate not to come, by the way,” I said. “She feels bad now. She thinks you’re angry at her.”“I am,” he confirmed with a nod. “I told her right before that I was not one to—”“You do know that it’s not her fault, right? She did all she could. And her effort to order the separate platter for you shows how much she cares about you,” I lectured, not knowing why he found it funny as he started to chuckle.“You’re a Kate advocate now,” he joked. “Look at you, being all serious about how she cares for me and all.”He placed a chaste kiss on my lips, and I couldn’t help but feel a tug of gui

CARMENI wouldn’t have believed that the ex-girlfriend of my husband was the same woman standing in front of me if I hadn’t raised the phone to my ear with her on the other side of the phone.I recognized her voice, and I felt a sudden pang in my heart after she introduced herself. If she looked like that and Jasper treated her that way, I didn’t want to think of what he would do to a person like me.“It’s very nice to meet you, Emily,” I greeted with a smile on my face that I was very unsure of. I turned to Jasper, who was looking at me with caution as if warning me to desist from something that I would regret when we were back alone.“Did you invite them, Jasper? It was nice of you,” I said, a tight smile being pulled on my face as we all took our seats. The waiter returned to us, finally sharing the menu and waiting for us to make our orders.When our orders were taken, we all started to bond, everyone getting introduced to everybody else.“So, Carmen, how’s marriage to this one tre