2014 Unconditional Love
Chapter 1
Even with the AC cranked up, it was still hot driving through the desert. Air conditioning in a rental car in Mexico was not much to begin with, but throw in 107 degrees of blinding sunlight, and it was all but worthless. Christopher again checked the directions thinking he must have missed the turn off, but there were still a few more miles to go. Bum had told him the place was in the middle of no where and he was not kidding.
Soon, a building appeared. Approaching it, he wondered if maybe he should have taken Bum up on his offer to come with him. "It's pretty rough—no country clubs or glass skyscrapers down there. I think it'd be better if two of us went, or better yet, three," he cautioned, pulling out a .34 caliber. Christopher blew him off. "I can take care of myself."
As per the directions, he pulled up to the call box. After stating he was there to see Elena Ramos, he noticed a sniper on the roof. "What the hell is this place?" he mumbled.
After answering several more questions through the microphone, two armed men looking like Federales in a B-movie, walked up and continued questioning him in broken English while relaying his answers in Spanish via cell phone. The out-of-place American looked around wondering where the cell towers were and why he had not had service since he left Mérida.
"Wait here," the one man said before the two guards returned to the crappy building. After realizing it would be a while and he was not going to be invited in out of the sun, Christopher returned to the car. Between the minimal amount of lukewarm air that was blowing around inside and the sun beating through the windshield, his lack of sleep caught up to him.
A car engine startled him. He opened his eyes to such a beautiful site, he did not know if it was a mirage or the real deal. Long tanned legs, highlights dancing off her hair like a halo, sun-kissed cheeks—a natural beauty. Dressed casually in white shorts and top, hair cascading down her back, and seemingly carefree, Elena looked like she had back in high school~pretty, sweet, full-of-life.
...
Her heart jumped when Joaquin told her there was a "Christopher Ewing" at the gate for her. For months she vacillated between hating him while impatiently waiting to see the dumfounded expression on his face when she walked into the Barnes Global board room next month, and hoping he would come for her and beg her to finally marry him.
As Christopher approached, she detected a change beyond his unkempt appearance. Obviously a razor had not touched his face in weeks and she had not seen his hair that long since their college days, but there was something else. There was an uneasiness about him; his gait was awkward, his movements forced, over-thought. When he brushed the hair out of his eyes, the anxiety and stress radiated from him, and then he smiled. Her heart jumped again.
Always the gentleman, he helped her step down from the Jeep, although she clearly did not need assistance. Hesitantly, he gave her a hug that she returned with the same caution.
The smell of alcohol mixed with mouthwash was not a total surprise. Her mother had said that Christopher was rarely without a beer bottle or highball glass in his hand these days, but Elena assumed those were the exaggerated words of an emotionally-exhausted woman attempting to get her only daughter to return to Dallas. "Momma is just one more reason to be here, yet feel guilty about it," she had explained to Joaquin after one of many phone calls to her mother.
Before their reunion became more uncomfortable, Elena asked Christopher to pull his car into the garage, then she drove him to her new home.
tbimh copyright2014
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