Isabel & Leo

By Tanya Miranda

Finding romance gets harder after so many years together, but Isabel and Leo make it work.

This collection of short stories takes a peek into their lives as a competitive couple continually outwitting one another, as parents to two children who are too wise for their young ages, and as grownups who shoot foam dart guns like military snipers while attempting to act like responsible adults.

Between sassy kids and demanding careers, heartbreaks and frustrations, a quick kiss or a love tap are sometimes the only intimacy they can get. And when the moment comes, they jump all over it.

These are their stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tanya Miranda
• Release date: May 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463722183

Tanya Miranda

Tanya Miranda grew up in the vibrant streets of Queens, New York, in the 80s. Her childhood dream was to be the first female shortstop for the NY Mets and to spend her life writing books. Her baseball career fell through, but luckily, she continues to write great stories.If she's not writing, you can find her building websites for mom-and-pop shops, lifting heavy weights in her CrossFit gym, hiking, running, and walking around North Bergen searching for the perfect cafe con leche.Visit her on social media, where you will find hundreds of photos of her two cats, who have proven that some love-hate relationships are absolutely vital.

Book preview

Isabel & Leo

Short Stories

By Tanya Miranda

Copyright © 2016 Tanya Miranda

E-Book Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Published by Blue Dragonfly Publishing

www.bluedragonflypublishing.com

~ ~ ~

For my husband, Iker,

my partner on this crazy ride

through marriage and parenting.

We totally rock!

~ ~ ~

~ The Journey ~

In the beginning, there was magic.

It made the sky bluer, the water taste fresher,

And butterfly-like melodies floated in the air.

After the beginning, there was danger.

The roads were bumpier, the sun didn't always shine,

And the end seemed to be waiting around every turn.

Then, we held on tight, we truly loved, and it turned out

The valleys weren't so steep,

The mountains were conquerable,

And together we cleared the fog.

~ ~ ~

Table Of Contents

Introduction

Lighting the Fire

Winning Is Everything

Pillars of Smoke

Burnt Pancakes

After the Storm

A Game of Trust

Mutiny

Crests and Troughs

Taking Sides

Just Cupcakes

Renovations

Reading the Signs

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Introduction

Who Are Isabel & Leo?

Early in our relationship, my husband and I had a fight that ended with a broken television. We were arguing about cleaning—he didn’t mind the house being a total mess, and I hated anything being disorganized. How we’ve survived almost twenty years together is a mystery.

The broken television? That was an accident. I meant to demolish my husband’s Xbox, but when I kicked it to the ground, I didn’t think the television would follow. The thick AV wire connecting the two devices proved its strength and durability—the television, not so much.

Why would I do such a thing, you ask? Well, my outburst was a reaction to my husband’s action just seconds prior. We were having an argument about cleaning the house, which eventually crescendoed to cursing, name-calling and personal insults. In a spontaneous fit of frustration, my husband grabbed the first thing he saw—my laundry baskets filled with four loads of folded laundry—and tossed it across the dirty, unfinished portion of our basement.

Four loads.

That’s three hours of my Saturday afternoon folding tiny clothes for my 2-year-old daughter, blankets, towels, a million socks, my work clothes, his clothes . . . three hours gone. Vanished. I would never get that time back, nor the time it would take to rewash and fold everything. Three hours was a big deal back then when I worked nights and weekends in addition to regular working hours.

I was stunned, paralyzed, but only for two seconds before it kicked in—the lightning urge to retaliate, to get even because we are 50/50 in this relationship, and if he’s allowed to go crazy like that, then bonkers it is! In what I consider a rage-induced spasm, my foot kicked my husband’s Xbox console right off its stand. The television screen tumbled after it.

My husband was flabbergasted, just as I was when he tossed the clothes. I inconvenienced him as he inconvenienced me. I saw it as justice—fair play in this illogical game we call love. Incoherent accusations flooded from him as he examined the Xbox for damages. I collected the laundry strewn across the basement floor. Both of us grumbling, cursing, claiming it was the last straw . . .

You could say we were both hot-blooded back then, in our twenties, still newbies at balancing our professional life, family life, personal life, and sanity.

Later that evening, as my husband fed our daughter in the kitchen and I put away the last load of laundry, I brought up our argument. I was melancholy and dispirited about our relationship—we had been arguing quite a bit back then. I expressed my concern that we might be too incompatible for the long run. It’s like we’re from two different worlds, I said to him, unable to communicate because we speak two different languages.

My husband replied, Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m from planet Earth, and I speak English. What planet are you from?

He waited for a second to pass and then tried to hold back his smile.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. Apologies soon followed.

Although it infuriated me that he was able to make me laugh when I was trying to have a serious discussion about the state of our relationship, I could acknowledge that his tactic worked. Humor diffused the bomb we had both created.

Before going to sleep that night, I documented the whole thing in my journal. More than a decade later, I unearthed that journal during a renovation project. I read the story, along with a handful of other fights that had funny endings. It triggered something in me.

I started thinking about all the new, undocumented situations we’ve experienced since, and all the tales my friends and I shared about our marriages, kids, work, and everything else that comes with having a few decades under your belt. The stories in this collection are all created from thin air, made-up, but are greatly influenced by real events and real characters. None of the stories are real, yet they could be.

So, getting back to the question at hand . . . who are Isabel and Leo?

They are two