Chapter 86-88
Chapter 86
Remember what I said I wanted to write about….yep…did it. Sexy.
Marla rolled over in the bed feeling Bruno’s arms still around her. ”Bru…move your arms…” she whispered to him struggling to get out of the bed. ”God…move your arms…” she threw them off of her getting out of the bed. He didn’t move a muscle moving over to her side of the bed. I hate it when he goes on tour…he comes back like the bed is all his. She looked at him throwing a pillow that had fallen off the bed in his direction…still…he didn’t move. She jumped in the shower washing her hair and body getting out to towel dry her hair. She wrapped the towel around her hair putting on jeans and a dressy shirt for work. She walked into her daughter’s bedroom sitting down on the bed to wake up her daughter. ”Rosalia….wake up, wake, up, rise and shine, wake up, wake up….” she sang a song Bruno always sings to her.
”I don’t want to get up.” she said rolling over.
”It’s a good thing you’re little….umph….” Marla picked up her half awake daughter into the living room turning on the tv. ”Wake up, silly girl.” she told her daughter who curled up in a little ball with her frog. Marla put some bread in the toaster pulling out the nutella spread and some cereal for her daughter. ”Mama..I have your breakfast..come ‘ere…” Marla called her daughter.
”But mom…..dad’s not even up yet. Let me sleep with him…” she got up walking to her parent’s bedroom.
”Nope…not today…” she told her daughter picking her up knowing that an early morning temper tantrum was coming.
”Mommmyyyyy…pleassssseeeee….” she cried starting to kick her feet and wave her arms around making the dog wake up from her early morning nap. ”Mommmmmyyyyyyy….”
”Eat your breakfast Rosalia Diane.” she told her daughter sitting in the kitchen chair.
”Fine. But I don’t want to.” she said taking a sip of her orange juice tipping it over onto the ground as sheet it down. ”Whoops.” Marla picked her daughter up placing her in her small time out spot cleaning up the orange juice over her daughter’s screams. Marla turned around after hearing the screaming stop to see her daughter laying in the bed with her father who was just waking up. He whispered in Rosie’s ear making her smile then pushed her out of the bed to go back to her time out chair. ”I’m sorry, mommy.” she told her mother sitting in the small chair pouting.
”4 minutes, Rosalia.” Marla said finishing the clean-up. She felt Bruno meet her and the ground holding her hand as she wiped up the spilled juice.
”Good morning.” he smiled at her.
”Good morning, Bruno.” she smiled back at him almost melting into his eyes as she steadied herself to stand up. He grabbed her by the waist pulling her toward him running his hands through her hair as his lips lingered on hers for what seemed like forever. They were interrupted by the buzz of her cell phone.
”Let me get her…” Bruno said to Marla. ”Go get ready for work.” Marla watched Bruno walk toward Rosalia who was laying her head on the other chair near her half awake.
”Daddy..did you make mommy feel better?” she asked him.
”I’m working on it, Rosie.” he smiled lifting her up. ”Go get dressed for school….” he watched her start to make a sad face at him. ”now.” he pointed to her bedroom where Marla stood with her clothes.
”Come onnnn…” Marla pretended to whine to her daughter.
They got Rosie dressed and Marla finished putting on her make-up for work. Bruno helped Rosie get her little backpack put together for pre-school kissing her good bye as Marla walked out the door.
Bruno threw himself on the couch grabbing the notebook he was writing in. He read over it losing himself in the writing shaken out of his writing when his phone rang. ”Dude…get your shit together…you have stuff to fix. I have the keys…” he heard Phil tell him.
”Oh..oh..yeah…okay. I need to get everything….” he told his friend.
”I’ll be at home. I have everything you need.” Phil said hanging up the phone. Bruno got up grabbing bags throwing clothes in them not knowing exactly what he was getting himself into. He went to Phil’s house grabbing a single silver key thanking his friend driving to get his wife back.
”Andrea…where’s Marla?” he asked wandering into the small office.
”She’s on the phone.” she answered pointing to the closed door.
”Thanks.” he smiled walking into her office without knocking. He opened the door lightly trying not to scare her. He sat down in a chair as she turned around ignoring his presence continuing the conversation. He sat watching twirl her fingers along the phone cord talking with her other hand. She hung up the phone after about 10 minutes writing some things down finally looking up at him. ”Get your purse. You’re coming with me.” he said holding out his hand.
”What are you doing, Bruno?” she asked not moving a muscle.
”Damnit Marla..just come on…” he whined.
”Don’t kill me.” she smiled at him standingup to turnoff her computer taking her purse with her out the door.
”I don’t know when I’ll be back.” she yelled out the door.
”Mhmmm…” Andrea and Jamie said simultaneously.
He pushed her in his car winking at her as he started the car.
”Just because you slept with another girl doesn’t mean you get to kidnap me.” she told him.
”You’re my wife. I can do whatever the hell I want, Marla.” he looked at her with a serious look on his face. She looked right back at him trying not to laugh unsuccessfully. ”Fuck Marla. Quit. I’m being serious.”
”If you were serious you’d tell me where we were going. Nothing good ever happens when you don’t tell me where we’re going.” she answered.
”Plenty of good things happen when I don’t tell you where we’re going.” he told her driving farther away from the city.
”Oh please. I either end up having a seizure or getting sick when you do this to me.” she told him.
”I’m gonna change that today.” he said pulling up to a small house.
”Where are we?” she asked him.
”Just wait.” he told her taking her hand leading her toward the house. He pulled out the key that Phil had given him opening the door to see six pictures of them blown up sitting behind a brightly lit candle.
”What does this mean?” she asked him.
”It’s one for each year we’ve been together…” he said. ”The first one is for you…” he told her leading her to the next picture. ”And this one is for Rosie….” he pointed to the picture of the three of them sleeping on the couch. ”This one is for the dog…” he said looking at the picture of her holding Tippie the day they brought her home. ”And this one is for your memories….” he showed her a picture of the three of them at Rosie’s birthday party. ”And this one is for everything we lost….” he pointed to a picture of him onstage singing. ”And this is for everything that is to come….” he told her pointing to the picture they took at the most recent concert in Los Angeles.
”It’s all so pretty….” she told him turning to face him trying not to cry.
”Marla….” he touched her face looking deep into her eyes. ”I love you so much. I’m…”
”Stop…let’s just forget about it tonight.” she told him pressing her lips into him catching him off guard by her tenacity. He moved his hands along her back up to her hair smelling her as she kissed his neck moving her arms along his. ”I need you, Bruno. I need you so badly.” she told him. ”I mean…like I need you but I need you too.” she told him.
”I need you too, Marla.” he responded as she lifted up her shirt watching his eyes move across her body. He ran his fingers along her bra strap pushing it down. He pulled off his shirt watching her eyes move along his body. She pushed herself onto him falling toward the small couch on top of him. As she started to push him on the couch her eyes wandered to the back of the private house seeing the swanky outdoor area. Shit. I’ve always wanted to do that. Have we? Do I not remember? She thought to herself/ ”What?” he asked her looking confused.
”Bruno? Can we do something we’ve never done before?” she asked him.
”What?” he asked her as she moved her eyes to the hot tub. He grabbed her by the waist carrying her out the door almost throwing her in the hot tub.
”Not when I’m dressed…” she told him pressing the button to turn on the jets.
”Obviously not when you’re dressed…” he said pulling her pants off at the same time he stepped out of his.
”Sorry..I wasn’t matching today…” she shrugged her shoulders at her black bra and orange and red polka dotted underwear.
”It wouldn’t be the first time you didn’t match, Mar.” he told her as he led her to the small step into the water now that they were both naked. She looked over his body running her fingers along his body moving herself toward him as her fingers moved down in between his legs. ”Woah….” he said to her as she moved her legs around his waist. She smiled at him as she sucked on his neck moving to his ear blowing on it.
”You could have slept with the whole world and I wouldn’t care.” she told him as he moved his arms around her back moving his hands to touch her butt making her squirm and laugh at the same time. She felt his excitement near her as he moved toward her neck while her head fell on his shoulder. ”Oh my goddddddd…Brunoooo…” she moaned feeling his hands move between her legs. He pressed his fingers along all the areas that he knew drove her crazy with the hot water making it turn her on even more. She moaned softly into his ear turning him on even more.
”Mar…” he paused stopping what they were doing.
”Don’t say anything else, Bruno…” she said to him. ”Just yes. The answer is yes.” she told him. ”Just fucking yes. Hurry…” she felt all of his past actions disappear through the slow meaningful motions they made together.
”Does it feel okay?” he asked her alternating between biting and sucking her neck all while moving his hips with hers to their own rhythm.
”Oh god….how do you do that….how….oh shit…..brunoooooooohmygod….” she flung her head back getting her hair wet hitting him as she moved her head back up to kiss him. Holy mother fucking shit that was hot. He thought to himself as she moved her head back again. He kept himself close to her as he moved her to the other end of the jets to take control of what they were doing.
”Mar…I think I’m gonna….oh shit. Babyyyyyy…..” He pushed her against the jet making her scream as he pushed his body into her so deeply that had they been in bed she might have started to cry.
”Why, Bruno…whhhyyyyyy….” she cried out.
”I’m almost done, baby…I’m almost…..” he said feeling her dig her nails into his back as he kissed her as deeply as he was inside her.
”Brunnnooohmyohmybrunnnnoooooooo…” she sighed throwing her limp body on him smiling to herself. He lifted her head up with the tips of his fingers. She looked at his hands looking at the wedding ring on one hand and the small scar from his stitches on the other snapping her back into the reality of the situation. What happened with us? She thought to herself as he looked at her.”We can’t fix this just by having sex in a hot tub Bruno.”
**
Dear Marla,
I know we’re not in the best of places right now. I know I made a mistake. I know I messed up in every single way possible. But Mar, I know the best parts of our lives together are still waiting for us. It’s like this really bad storm we went through when I was little. It rained and rained and rained and rained…like for a month…in the summer…we stayed in the house like all summer. And then like a few days before school started it got sunny. And everything was just perfect. Marla…we’re in the middle of that rain. And I can’t see when it’s going to stop, but it’s going to…one day. Marla, I love you.
-Brunz
Chapter 87
Bruno rolled over in the bed feeling an empty space next to him. She’s running. I know she is. He closed his eyes again to go back to sleep waking up just minutes later hearing the door open. ”Mar?” he asked half awake.
”I’m right here.” she said walking in the room dripping in sweat with her hair flying all over the place. She smiled at him walking toward the one bathroom in the small beach house throwing her shirt toward the floor. ”Don’t even try anything Bruno Mars. I hurt from last night.” she told him as the door closed.
”Damn.” he said out loud standing up to go into the small living room. He flipped through the tv landing on vh1 to see one of his videos being played. Well, that’s not too bad. He thought to himself grabbing his phone to see if he had gotten any new text messages. He saw one from Sylvia saying that Rosie was fine and to take their time. Marla had yelled at him for a few minutes the night before about being responsible and leaving her with her mother even though he hadn’t seen her in months. He told her that they would just be there for the rest of the day and that she could have her daughter back that evening. She sighed and said Okay. Fine. He looked into the bedroom seeing her walk out with a towel on her head and one around her body. He smiled at her making her smile back at him.
”Good morning, Bruno.” she said grabbing the clothes she had pulled out of the bag he packed for her. He stood up still wearing his pajamas severely underachieving in his morning activities. ”You’re really lazy.” she laughed at him as he came over to her.
”Don’t hate. I’ve been up at like 5 in the morning the past few weeks. I need a break.” he told her kissing her on the cheek as he wrapped his arms around her.
”Your hair is also a mess. It’s worse than your daughter’s hair.” she told him pulling the out of place curls. He smirked at her as she ran her fingers through his messy dirty hair.
”But you married it so deal with it.” he answered going into the bathroom to take a shower. ”And don’t try anything Mrs. Hernandez.” he winked at her closing the door.
”Don’t worry, Mr. Hernandez.” she said grabbing his phone to look at the text message got from her mother. She started scrolling through it seeing nothing out of the ordinary. It was actually quite boring going through his phone. She always did it, never thinking that he was hiding anything, mostly because she was bored. Almost to the bottom of his messages she saw one from Phil about a venture capital meeting. He responded by saying that he would be there and to put on his extra smiley face.What is that? He hadn’t told her anything about that. ”Bruno?” she started to open the bathroom door hearing the water still running.
”I said no! And if you come in here it’s rape, Marla!” he said laughing. She jumped on the counter not playing his games.
”Don’t worry. You don’t have to worry about that…Bruno…what venture capital meeting?” she asked him.
”Oh!” he answered her excitedly. ”You know…how we were gonna start our own label…?” he asked turning off the water. ”Gimmie a towel..I don’t want you to be tempted.” he asked her.
”Oh..here…” she threw the towel to his hand watching him dry off. Holy shit. His abs are like extra sexy now. I didn’t notice that last night. But I’m being serious now..not now, Marla…she thought to herself. ”So, you were gonna start the label and?” she asked him.
”Yeah…so….we just stopped.” he answered her.
”Bruno…what happened?” she asked him holding the phone looking at the date. ”This is like 2 years old…it’s July of 2014…..” she said. ”Why do you still have it?”
”Look at the last date…” he said reaching over to take the phone from her. ”Three weeks ago.”
”Oh….but Bruno…why now? Why not before? You said you wanted to do this so long ago…what’s holding you back?” she asked him.
”Marla…you needed me then. You needed me to be with you…” he told her.
”Bruno…this was after I told you to do anything you want….I would have supported it…” she told him.
”Mar….we didn’t start talking about this just now…we were thinking about doing it a long time ago…we just haven’t had a chance…everything was just so crazy. First was Rosie and then you, and the album and it’s been the first chance we’ve had to meet with anyone about funding…”
”Bruno…you keep using us an excuse. I’ve never told you not to do anything. I’ve told you to follow your heart and do anything that you want….” she replied.
”Mar….but…I never want anything bad to happen to you two…” he told her.
”Bruno, I’m a grown-up. I can handle it. We’ve done this all so many times. I’ve never held you back.” she responded.
”I know, Marla. I never meant it to sound that way.” he replied matching her tense tone.
Marla stared at him feeling the tension between the two of them. ”I think you should do whatever you want. Go travel the world and then start a label and hide in the studio. I don’t mind.”
”Mar…I don’t understand why you’re so upset…” he responded.
”I’m upset because everything you do you come back and you say you do it for us…what are you doing for yourself? And then when shit fucks up you blame it on us. I didn’t record the album because I was with you, I slept with Madison because you and I got in a fight, I got stitches because of you. No. Bruno. No. You didn’t do the album because you were worried and scared. You slept with Madison because you’re a fucking idiot and you got stitches because you couldn’t control your anger. Quit blaming. Quit with the fucking defense mechanisms, Peter.”
”Quit being my therapist Marla. Jesus Christ. I’m not broken. I’m just as put together as the next person. You’re the one that’s broken. Maybe you should fix yourself.” he yelled at her.
”Whatever Bruno. Why don’t you call Madison and go sleep with her because you’re mad at me.” she yelled back at him grabbing her phone, purse and keys to his car. ”Call Phil.” she said slamming the door behind her. Bruno stood up running to the front of the house seeing her sitting in the car crying. He opened the passenger seat door sitting down next to. She pulled the keys out of the ignition waiting for him to say something. She continued to cry feeling him look at her the way he did when he was angry.”You’re angry? Oh my fucking god, Bruno.” she rolled her eyes.
”Marla….look at me….please…” he pleaded with her. She shook her head.
”No.”
”Fine. I’ll just tell you now. You’re being a bitch.” he said flatly.
”Oh yeah. Because that’s a nice thing to say.” she said continuing to cry.
”Marla…we’re going in circles. Everything is the same. We’re arguing about the same things we did before. It may be new to you because you don’t remember it…but we’ve done this before. It’s like déjà vu that I don’t ever want to see again.”
”I’m sorry I’m always trying to fix you, Bruno.” she turned to see him trying not to cry. ”Bruno…please don’t get like that. It makes it even worse…please…” she told him. ”I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” she repeated. ”I don’t want to go around in circles. I don’t want to spin and spin and spin. I want to keep going.”
”Baby…” Bruno wiped off the tears from her cheek running his knuckles against her cheek slowly. ”I don’t either. I want to write the rest of this story.”
”I do too.” she told him laying her head on him taking deep breaths feeling his heartbeat racing against her.
”Let’s go back inside, Mar…” he said lifting her head up from his shoulder taking the keys from her hand. She shook her head opening the door to the car meeting him at his side. He grabbed her by the waist pulling her toward him kissing her wet hair. ”I love you, Marla Hernandez.”
”I love you more, Peter Hernandez.” she answered him.
**
Dear Marla,
Today we yelled at each other. We yelled a lot. I said I was sorry. You said you were sorry too. I think we’ve said we’re sorry to each other more than we’ve said I love you in the past month. I miss telling you I love you. I think I’m going to start doing it more. I love you.
Bruno
Chapter 88
Marla grabbed her phone on her way out of the counseling center she was getting supervision hours for her counseling license to call Bruno who was at home with Rosie.
”Heeey…did y’all eat yet?” she asked him.
”Yeah…but guess what?” he answered.
”What?” she wondered out loud starting the car turning down the music that was playing in the back of the car.
”There’s leftovers, just for you.” he said sweetly.
”Oh. Leftover McDonald’s?” she asked him. ”That’s gross, Bru.”
”You underestimate me sometimes. Now I’m not gonna tell you what I made you.” he replied half hurt by what she had said.
”What did you make me? Brunnnooooo…” she whined.
”Well, I might tell you before you get here if you say you love me.” he laughed at her.
”Bruno! I love you, I love you, I love you Now tell me what you made me for dinner!” he laughed at him as she sat at a red light.
”I made you chicken adobo.” he told her defeated in his ability to keep a secret.
”I knew there was a reason I married you.” she responded. ”I’ll be home in like 30 minutes..traffic is really icky.” she told him.
”Okay, Mar. I love you. I’ll see you soon.” he said hanging up the phone. Marla smiled as she made the turn onto the highway thinking about what she was going to do while she sat in ridiculously busy Los Angles traffic for 7:30 in the evening.
”Hi mommmm…” she dialed her mother.
”Hi, sweetheart. How are you?” her mother asked. ”You’re not driving are?”
”Umm..yeah I am. But I’m okay. I just wanted to talk to you.” she told her mother.
”How are you two, are you getting better?” her mother asked. Marla had told her about everything that had happened helping her remember exactly what was going on in their lives at the time making the whole sequence of events make more sense to her…but they also made her angrier because he was right. They were just repeating themselves.
”I guess we’re okay. We haven’t yelled at each other the past few days. And he’s been here so saying that we haven’t but knowing that he’s gone isn’t an excuse.” Marla told her mother. ”But then there’s times where I just look at him and get grossed out…knowing that he did that to me and kept it from me.”
”Mija…do you need to talk to Abby again?” her mother asked about their therapist from after her memory loss.
”I asked him if he would go…not like long term but just to get a completely valid third party opinion on everything and he just ignored me. I don’t want to force him and I have plenty of people to talk to about it. Shoot. I just talked to Angie about it this afternoon.” Marla said.
”Mama…he’ll come around. I know it. Have you told him what it would mean to you if he did it?” Sylvia asked.
”Mom…then he’ll say he’s doing it to make me happy. I want him to talk to someone else because hewants to. Not because it will make me feel better.” Marla told her mother.
”Well, I guess you’re right. You don’t want to then go down that road.” Sylvia responded.
”I’ll talk about it with him tonight…after the baby goes to bed.” she told her mother.
”Okay…and you’re still calling her the baby?” Sylvia laughed.
”She’s always going to be the baby, mom. We could have ten more kids and she would still be the baby.” Marla laughed.
”Okay, mija. Hasta luego y tenga un buen noche.” her mother answered.
”Love you, mama.” Marla ended the call turning down their residential street parking the car opening the door to see the dog lift her head up and go back to her sleeping. Bruno walked out of the hallway from Rosie’s room smiling at her. ”Hi.”
”Hey there.” he answered taking her laptop bag and purse setting it down on the table for her.
”Thank you.” she answered him kissing him on the cheek walking toward the kitchen to get a bottle of water.
”Oh…here…” he walked behind her pulling the food out for her. ”Let me warm it up for you. I might even cut it for you.” he smiled at her as she sat down at the table undoing her hair sighing. He sat down next to her looking at her tired eyes.
”What did you do today?” he asked her.
”I did some grant writing in the morning, had a board meeting in the afternoon and then did my clinical stuff tonight.” she said. ”I still have notes to do..and I supervision with Kathy tomorrow.” she said making small mental notes of what her plans were as she told him.”How was your day?”
”We were in the studio while Rosie was at school. Do you know how hard it is to get out of there when you have to pick her up? It was ridiculous. I was like checking the time trying not to get lost in what we were doing…”
”Bruno..you could have called me. I would have picked her up. Or had my mom or Lisa do it.” she told him.
”I know. But I want to spend as much time with her as I can. I don’t want to be the famous dad that his kids hear more on the radio than they do in real life.” he told her.
”Bruno…you’re never going to be that dad. You know that.” she reassured him touching his shoulder rubbing it. ”You never will.”
”But Marla…if we can’t get our shit together I will be.” he said sadly.
”We’re working on it. You can’t just snap your finger and make everything better. Life doesn’t have an undo button. You of all people should know that.” she told him.
””I know…I know…but it’s so hard to have everything that I’ve done wrong just sit there.” he told her.
”For every bad thing you’ve done, Bruno, I can name 10 that you have done right.” she replied. He rolled his eyes at her knowing that he had made her feel bad. She could feel his guilt all over his body. ”Like…you smell really bad right now…” she smiled at him. ”But….your hair is perfect…” she pulled a piece of his hair. ”And you cooked me dinner….and you came to the door to see me, you didn’t have to do that….and you did the laundry last night….and you picked up Rosie from school even though you didn’t have to….and you love your daughter more than anything in the world…and you would die for any member of your family….and you make me laugh, Bruno….and you make my knees weak…and you motivate me to do so many things I never thought I could ever do in my life….”
”What’s number 10?” he asked her trying not to laugh at what she was doing.
”And…you’re a really good kisser.” she answered him leaning in to kiss him. ”Even if you do smell like smoke and the studio.” she said as he ran his fingers through her hair.
”Wait…let me try…” he said picking up her plate of food putting the plate in the sink running water in the sink.
”You have a cute butt, too, Bru.” she laughed at him.
”Shoot..I’ve got cute everything, Marla.” he said taking her hand leading her to the couch.”Marla…you make me want to scream some days..but…” she gave him a silly look. ”I’m being serious! This is my serious face!” he told her. She nodded her head for him to go on. ”You’re gonna have to stop me at ten because I could go on all night…” Quit being dumb…she thought to herself keeping quiet as he started to think.”Your eyes hypnotize me Marla…they’re so dark. And when you wear eyeliner like right now….I just want to rip your clothes off….and you always smell good. I don’t know what it is that you wear every single day…but I could take a shower in your scent and just die happy….and you’re so smart Marla…you do all these things that I could never imagine doing. And you always ground me. You tell me when my head is getting too big. I need that…a lot….You’re so strong…I couldn’t even think of doing the things you’ve done. And you’re the most amazing mother in the world. You have no idea how much Rosie talks about you and the things you do when I’m gone. Mar….the way you say good morning drives me wild, too. And good night. I don’t know what it is. But it just makes me day….and you…just you…you do this thing where you get really angry and then just take a deep breath and are better. I don’t know if you ever forget about the things that make you angry…but you forgive everyone for everything. I wish I could be like that….wait..I have two more….you make me laugh too.. Your horrible jokes make you even better. And you laugh at me and my jokes even if they’re the worst in the world.”
”Bru….I love you so much. ” she said hugging him tightly smelling the smoky shirt he had on. ”Like…but seriously…” she pulled away from him. ”You gotta do something about that smoky smell. It’s gross.” He shook his head pretending to be upset with her.
”I’mma be me, Marla!” he jumped up stomping off into the bathroom. She stared at him as he walked farther away from her. ”What, you’re not coming?” he asked her.
”I’m coming, I’m coming….” she sighed dropping her clothes in the pile of dirty clothes in their bedroom following him into the shower.
**
Dear Marla,
Today I talked to that really smart lady that knows a lot about me. She’s very pretty. She has the most beautiful eyes and smile and she knows exactly what to say at any given moment to make things better. You were really busy today, too. I know you’re doing the most amazing things in the world, though. It makes it a little better. There’s not enough time in the world for me to be with you and Rosie. I just wish I could stop time and just be with you two. I’m leaving in two weeks to go to Brazil. I’m going to try to find a way to stop time before then to be with you more. I love you.
Bruno