***
Lynne was numb after Leif left. Numb and dumbfounded. She never expected him to really leave like that. She hadn't meant to down play the seriousness in their relationship at all. She would never have done this if any other person had asked. But it was her parents, for crying out loud, and they couldn't even bear the thought of her swearing.
They were really wrapped up in the religion. Mainly because when her parents were young, their marriage was saved by the young couple who knocked on their door. Her father had been an alcoholic, and he gave up drinking. He stopped slapping her mother around. He cleaned his life up, and went on to have his own taxi's and then a fleet of taxi's. And because of the clean living the religion emphasized, the Millers attributed all their success to this religious movement. They quickly molded and patterned themselves after the church leaders. Rose high up in the ranks of the church And they now believed that a happy life could not exist outside of the church. Furthermore, they also believed that Lynne needed to marry in that church or she'd be mistreated.
They didn't mean to be foolish and misguided. They were pretty clueless to the fact that there were evils inside, and outside of the church. They were both clueless and caught up in appearances.
Leif wasn't a part of that church, but he was the kindest and gentlest man Lynne knew. He only shouted and got really mad when his patience was really tried, like this evening. And he never would put his hands on her. Not in a way she didn't want him to. He wouldn't hurt a fly.
But Leif didn't really understand what excommunication meant. There had been no clear way to explain it to him, but if they believed she was in a serious relationship, having sex with Leif, they'd tell the church elders. When they told the church elders, her parents would be instructed to stop communicating with her. And that was it. It would be as though she was dead to them. Literally.
Last year, Lynne knew that the life of the church was no longer for her. But that didn't stop her from wanting to communicate with her parents. So even though moving out meant she didn't have to pretend as much as she did at home, faking like she didn't swear, or drink, or smoke pot, or wasn't having lousy sex with Martin (while they were still dating when she lived at home)- Lynne still wasn't wiling to throw the fact that she'd disregarded their principles in her face, once she moved out the house.
Leif didn't understand that, because he had a perfect little life with parents who sounded like the hippie equivalent of the Brady Bunch. On the other hand, Lynne's parents had told her in no uncertain terms when she still lived at home, that they wouldn't have a slut for a daughter. And those were the exact words that they'd used.
And now, she'd lost them both. Her parents, and Leif. And she'd never felt so alone before. She went back to the bedroom, smelled the sheets were they'd lain just this morning. He'd pulled down her panties and ate her to ecstasy. Didn't care that she didn't have a shower, said he liked the flavor and smell when she was a little bit ripe before her shower.
That man loved her. The way she loved him and his sexy blue eyes and the way his arms were so big and strong, even though he was slender, and felt like he could shield her from any care and concern around her. How could he leave her like this? She smelled her own pussy, and his aftershave, and his dreadlock grooming products on her sheets.
She buried her face in the sheets and the tears flowed until she felt sick, and fell into an unsatisfying sleep.
***
Leif was not sleeping at all. He missed the physical presence of Lynne. But he was still furious at her. How could she say that they were not serious? Granted he hadn't let her know that he was thinking about ring shopping, but women didn't need to know everything...when a man was thinking about something like that. Besides, he wanted to save money so that he'd had enough to buy her a decent ring that didn't look like a speck. Right now specks were all he could afford. Now he saw that he was crazy for asking a woman to marry him, two months into knowing her. He thought he'd learned almost everything about Lynne, but when her crazy assed family reared their heads, she ran scurrying away for safety like a little cockroach when the lights were turned on!
He hated dishonesty! That was the one and only thing that turned him off. He'd never led any woman he'd slept with, except for Lynne to believe that he wanted something serious. That was because he was really serious about Lynne. And, it was just his luck that the woman he wanted to be serious with more than anyone else in the world did not feel the same seriousness for him.
She could say all she wanted to that it was just some lie she told her religious fanatic parents, and it might be, but he still did not like being discarded as so much gum on her shoe because it was not convenient to own up to him, because she was afraid of the ramifications of her parents church. It was not even Lynne's church anymore.
Since she didn't think they were serious, he would show her what a casual relationship felt like. Oh yes, he would. Lynne would learn, one way or another, he'd been treating her with the care, and concern, and love that you would treat a wife with, even though she wasn't even his wife yet. He'd given her honorary wife status. All to be tossed away without so much of a thought because she was scared of her parents.
He missed her, but in some ways, he was glad that he'd told her the shit was over. Because she needed to grow up. Maybe some time apart would mature her.
But lying in the bed right now, he couldn't even sleep. He missed the feeling of her soft hair resting in his chest. The sound of her breathing. Even the sound of her laughter when he teased her, by putting his cold feet on her own feet right before they went to sleep. Then she'd get him with her cold little hands. Wrestling her in the bed playfully. Pinning her down and having his way with her and his loving lips. Feeling her learn the fine art of dick sucking while she slurped him to ecstasy.
It was dark. And no one would know. And so he wept. Silently. Hot, salty, silent tears.
***
Lynne awoke as soon as the first shards of light appeared through her mini blinds. She hadn't slept well, but she could still smell him on those sheets. Him, and their sweet sexual foreplay. She ached. She couldn't help that she missed him.
She texted him.
I'm sorry.
His reply. I'm sorry that it didn't work out too.
Shit. She almost hurled the phone. She wouldn't give up that easily. She loved this man, and wanted him to see, that was just a crazy mistake and turn of events, where she bent the truth a little to protect the innocent. No need for him to see this as anything different than when she pretended she didn't drink, or smoke, or when she hid her involvement in singing in the nightclubs when she was in high school, and college.
But, she was also determined not to lose that man. It wasn't over between them. He was just speaking out of anger, and she needed to smooth it over with him. She got busy in the kitchen, working on those blueberry muffins that he loved so much.
***
Leif hadn't expected a knock on his door in the middle of the afternoon. But, when he peeped through the keyhole, he saw her standing there. She looked cute as hell, wearing a little peasant skirt, and a black, furry looking cashmere sweater. Her hair was silky and flat ironed and she wore this pink lip-gloss that made her full lips look even sexier. And those exotically shaped doe eyes. Damn. This would be harder than he thought.
He started not to answer the door. She had such an effect on him that he thought when he saw her, and heard her little voice, she'd be climbing in his arms soon and he'd be forgiving her before he so much as gave her the opportunity to appreciate how bad she'd hurt his feelings.