Believe In Me

Chapter 7

Michael’s POV

I wake up with a throbbing head and eyes like molten lava in my sockets. My mouth is dry and every single movement is excruciating.

“Good morning. When you’re able to sit up, you need to drink this.”

I wince at the sound of speech. Yet, it is spoken in the softest tone. I try to look around and I see a blurry shape which resolves finally into Amanda.

“Hey”, I croak out with a voice I don’t recognize myself.

“Hello, Michael. You’re having a hangover and that is the cure. You’ll be up on your feet in no time.”

I force my neck to move my head around and I see a cup on the side table.

“What’s in there?”
“Crude egg mixed with warm milk and honey. It will do you good and then you can come down and have breakfast.”

“Will you be downstairs?”

“Yes, I will. We need to talk.”

I nod and immediately regret the action. My whole world started spinning around and I tumbled out of bed.

“Ay Dios mio! Easy now!”

Her tiny, but sinewy hand grabs hold of my arm and helps me sit up on the edge of the bed.

“Drink the cure right now.”

There is no room for negotiations, so I shut my eyes tightly, grab my nose with one hand and pour the contents of the cup down my throat as quickly as I can.

“Gaaaahhh! What a taste!”

“This is supposed to cure you, not taste nicely.”

“Yeah…well….I’ll be downstairs soon enough.”

I take a shower and try to piece together the memories from last night. I have the distinct impression that Amanda told me a crucial thing about herself. Something which explains a lot about her. Let me focus in here…Okay, it was something about…bastard. Bastard…..a dash instead of father’s name…flower child…Wait! Yes! That’s it! She doesn’t know who her father is. Basically, her mother had a one night stand with some guy and…and that guy was possibly Irish.

I understand now. I understand her cold shoulder towards me. I was hitting on her, pretty much in the same way in which her father hit on her mother, scored, went about his ways and forgot in the next instant about the Spanish girl whom he got pregnant.

I get dressed and make a resolution: I’ll take a big step back and reconsider everything. I will put my rabid sex drive on the shelf and be a good friend to Amanda. My children adore her and will be super happy to spend time with her again. And I will stop making her uncomfortable. 

I reach the kitchen and see Amanda fixing plates for everybody. My children will be up soon, so I don’t have much time for our conversation.

“Amanda, I am really sorry about yesterday. It was wrong to…to show up like that and…I’ll have that door fixed today.”

“Don’t worry about it. Look, I have to apologize, too. I guess that I’ve gone too far with my attitude. I guess I was a little afraid…”

“Afraid?”

“Do you remember what I told you yesterday about myself?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well…I’ve sworn to myself I won’t get tricked like my mother did. It really became an instinctive response to push away every man who…shows interest in me. But in this case, I really got worried. Because…well, because I liked you. I really did and I didn’t trust myself around you. I thought that if we get friends I will let go little by little to my defenses and…you know…”