Mark and Lisa: A Tale of Lies, Deception and Heartbreak

By Ruben Elizardo

Lisa told Mark that she and two ladies from work won a four-day holiday trip to Myrtle Beach. For some good reason, Mark, after leaving early from work, runs into Martha, his one-time girlfriend from college, who happened to be Johns sister. Martha, it seemed, was there to feed the fish and tidy up Johns house. He invited Mark inside while she did the chores she had gone there to do for John. As Mark was standing by a small serving bar talking to Martha, he looked down and saw two verification tickets, one for an airline and another for a four-day hotel stay in Myrtle Beach. What shocked him were the names on the formsJohn Miller and Lisa Larson were on the airline reservation, while the hotel had them listed as John and Lisa Miller. John? Shes left me for John? My worst enemy? She knows hes the one that got me fired from a job I held for over twenty years, he thought.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543452402

Ruben Elizardo

- to follow

Book preview

MARK AND LISA

A Tale of Lies, Deception and Heartbreak

Ruben Elizardo

Copyright © 2017 by Ruben Elizardo.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5434-5241-9

      eBook         978-1-5434-5240-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 09/27/2017

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

767554

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The Beginning

Chapter 2 The Wedding

Chapter 3 Lisa Meets John

Chapter 4 Mark Gets Fired

Chapter 5 Mark Finds Lisa Out

Chapter 6 Lisa Gets Caught

Chapter 7 Goodbye Dallas

Chapter 8 Meeting With Lisa

Chapter 9 New Year Coming

Chapter 10 Spring Coming To An End

Chapter 11 The Accident

Chapter 12 Finally Back Home

Chapter 13 A New Begining

This book is dedicated to the loving memory of my late wife Angie, my children: Calixtro, Nancy, Irene, and Elizabeth, and not to be left out is a young man that has been like a son to me, Adam Valdez. They have always been there for me in the best and worst times of my life. My children have been a huge help in writing my first book, they have always been very encouraging and has helped me all throughout this process.

CHAPTER 1

The Beginning

What are you doing here?

I live here, why do you ask that, silly?

Not after what happened this week you don’t. He handed Lisa the copies he had made of the airline reservations and four-day hotel verification forms for her and John.

Lisa’s face paled and her knees got weak, when she saw the photo copies of the reservations. How did he find out? Was the first thought that went through her mind. With a shaking voice, she said. It’s not what you’re thinking Mark. I can explain everything. Nothing happened Mark. Oh, I see. Well, tell me what I’m thinking Lisa, because right now, I can’t think, all that’s going through my mind right now, is that you left me for John to go on a four-day vacation with him to Myrtle Beach and when I saw the two copies of the reservations for you and John. Well, frankly I don’t know what to think of at this moment. Or better yet, you know what?! Don’t say anything Lisa, I don’t think I want to hear anything you might want to say. After all the lies you’ve told me, do you really expect me to believe anything you might want to say? I’m leaving you Lisa, and I’m going to file for a divorce. I’ve rented a room for the week, when I come back I expect you will have moved out by then.

Well in case you haven’t figured it out yet. I’m Mark and Lisa is my wife and soon to be my ex-wife, and John? Well John is John one of a kind. We were both studying marketing at a university in San Antonio so we had some classes together, and we also belonged to the same sorority, but we were not what you would call friends, John liked to use people so I tried to stay as far away as I could from him, sure we conversed some and hung around with basically the same crowd, but we were never close. The only reason I really spoke to John, was because I was dating his sister Martha, at the time. As for Lisa? I met her one year before I graduated with a degree in marketing, she was one year behind me and studying to become a nursing director. The first time I saw her was between classes. Wow!!! she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Way out of my league, so I was a bit hesitant to approach her at first. One day going into the library I saw her sitting at a table by herself studying, I sat about five seats away, after a while she approached me and asked Aren’t you Mark? I said, yes. Then she said I think you dated my friend Mary some time ago. She talked a lot about you. All good mind you. So that was how we finally met."

It was at a party being hosted by one of the fraternities at a dance hall, where he saw her again and decided to test his luck by asking her to dance, she accepted and they danced several songs, Lisa wouldn’t sit at Marks table because she had gone with some friends and considered it rude to walk off on them, the next time he saw her was at a park that’s when he decided to go for broke and asked her for a date. Lisa declined his invitation that day because she had already promised to go out with a guy she had been seeing, However the next time Mark asked her, Lisa accepted and it was to be their first of many dates. The first time they went out he took her to the movies, and then out to eat. Lisa loved going to one of the many parks around the city, so somedays they would spend time out at a park. She was still seeing other guys which didn’t sit good with Mark, since they were only dating he didn’t think he could say anything to her about it. Mark and Lisa also spent a lot of time studying for their degrees.

Things were getting hectic as midterm was approaching. Mark had been seeing Lisa for about two months by then. He didn’t feel comfortable seeing her dating other guys so He decided to ask her to be his steady. Lisa had asked Mark to give her a few days to think about it, finally one day she accepted and became his steady. He knew Lisa was not a virgin as she had been quite a party girl since high school, and never tried to hide it. Mark later learned that she had lost her virginity to one of her mom’s toys, that were kept hidden in one of her nightstand drawers. Then as she started her junior year in college she had, had enough of partying, and decided to play it straight giving up mostly on sex several times a week and the drinking, she still dated, but now that she was seeing Mark she cut back on it considerably, she didn’t want to do anything to make him think it had been a mistake asking her to be his steady.

They were going on three months of seeing each other when Mark finally asked Lisa to be his steady, He hardly had time to finish asking her before she accepted. Mark was hoping that now that they were going steady Lisa would stop going out with other guys. It didn’t happen. Lisa was still seeing other guys. What Mark didn’t know was that she was only seeing those guys as friends only. Most of their times was being spent studying for midterm, which was coming up very soon. Mark had been sweating it because he had been spending a lot of time with Lisa and not enough time studying. After the testing, he found out he had been worrying for nothing as he passed his tests with flying colors. Lisa did great on her midterm too.

It was right after midterm when Marks father called, and asked his son if he could go to Dallas for the weekend because he needed to talk to him on a very pressing matter. He couldn’t get much out of his father, other than they were going to be moving to Florida, and had an offer he wanted to present to him before they made the move. Ok dad I’ll be there. Listen is mom around? I’d like to talk to her for a while. No son, your mom is out flying with my friend Ed. Flying dad? Yes, your mom had been crying because she said she missed you, so I called Ed to see if we could distract her by having him take her up in the wild blue yonder. Mark had a funny feeling about his mom and Ed that had been festering for some time now and decided not to pursue the conversation. He had been going steady with Lisa for some six months now, so he decided to invite her to Dallas with him for the weekend. Lisa thought about it for a while before she agreed to go with Mark to go see his parents in Dallas.

Friday afternoon they took off to Dallas and his parents Frank and Sally’s house. Mark was apprehensive on the way there as he had no clue what his father might want. Finally, they arrived in Dallas, and headed to his parents’ house where they were greeted by his mom and dad. it was a very pleasant evening at his parents. Mark introduced Lisa to his parents and told them how they had met, and how they had been seeing each other for a little over six months. Mark also wanted to know how his parents felt about Lisa. Later that afternoon when he was alone, with his parents while Lisa had gone to take a shower, he asked them what they thought of having Lisa for a daughter in law because he wanted to ask her to marry him before they left back to San Antonio on Sunday.

Saturday morning Mark’s father called him to the study, and had him sit across from him. His dad then told him that he and Mark’s mom had bought a house in Florida, and planned on moving there, and they wanted to pass their house on to Mark as a graduation gift. Mark was wordless as his father’s offer began to hit him. This comes as a complete surprise dad and frankly I’m stunned I don’t know what to say, other than thank you. I understand son. Your mom and I didn’t want to sell the house to just anybody, without asking you if it was ok for us to pass it on to you. After they finished talking Frank took Mark out to eat, and to meet some of his friends, chief among them was another man named Frank, who was owner of one of Dallas largest companies. Mark was promised a job with his firm if he ever decided to move to Dallas.

When he got back from visiting with some of his father’s friends Mark took Lisa riding, he wanted to show her the sights and sounds of Dallas, he took her by the high school that he had attended and then he showed her where his mom would pick him up before he started driving himself. Lisa was in awe of the city especially when Mark took her to the world-famous stadium and gave her a mini tour, he also showed her where the local swimming holes were since Lisa was an avid swimmer. All to soon they knew that they had to return to Marks house since Sally wanted to throw a party for him. And it was getting late. Unbeknownst to Lisa was that Marks mom also wanted to introduce Lisa to her friends so they could meet her future daughter in law. Sally felt proud of the possibility of having Lisa in hers and Frank’s lives, she was praying that Lisa would accept Mark’s marriage proposal.

Sally had been preparing everything she needed to throw a party for her son that evening with a few invited guests. After they got back from their excursion Lisa had gone into the kitchen and offered her help. Sally was reluctant at first because Lisa was a guest in their house, but when Lisa told her that it would give them a chance to get to know each other a lot better Sally had agreed to let her help. Lisa was right there with Sally helping her out with whatever she could. Sally had liked the girl from the first time she laid eyes on her, and so did Frank. They were so happy for their son and Lisa, they felt Mark had made a good decision in picking a good girl. This girl. Frank, there’s something about this girl. I can’t really put my finger on it but I like her. I think she’s going to make a good wife for Mark. I agree with you Sally. I felt something the moment I laid eyes on her, I think Mark is a very lucky man to have found someone like her.

The party was set to start at seven that afternoon since their son was leaving the next day, they didn’t want to keep him up too late, Sally wanted everything to be perfect. Frank who had talked Mark into letting them buy the engagement ring for Lisa was rejoicing with pride. When Mark gave Lisa the ring she was overwhelmed with joy, at the idea that her future in-laws had wanted to buy her engagement ring. It had brought tears to her eyes when Mark told her whom had bought her ring and why. She couldn’t remember when anyone had done something that nice for her. Sally had run into the house when she first heard Lisa scream when she saw Lisa crying, she immediately went and admonished Mark for making her cry. But then Mark told his mom why Lisa was crying and that it was happy tears, it had Sally backing off and hugging Lisa. Assuring her that it had always been their dream of buying Mark fiancé the engagement ring.

Before that, back at the house, the guests were starting to arrive at the party Sally was hosting for Mark, at about that time he called Lisa inside to the den telling her he needed to have a talk with her. A million thoughts were going through Lisa’s mind as she followed Mark inside the house, she knew Mark had had a private talk with his father so something told her this was not going to be good, she had that foreboding feeling like when something bad is going to happen. She was sure that during that conversation with his father Mark had somehow changed his mind about her. Lisa, said Mark, the reason I called you here is I want to say something to you, that I’m still trying to find the proper words to express them myself. Mark.! hold on, said Lisa. I’ll make it easy for you, I think I know what you’re trying to tell me, but before you do let me say something. Mark! I love you as I’ve never loved anybody before, and as much as it hurts, I won’t stand in your way for happiness, I’ll just go pack my bags and be out of here, just as soon as I can get a taxi to pick me up. She turned around with tears in her eyes and started to walk away to the spare bedroom she had been occupying.

A stunned Mark stood there not knowing what had just happened. Lisa NO!!!! you have it all wrong babe, breaking up with you is the farthest thing from my mind. Why I wanted you alone, is to ask if you if you will marry me darling. And with that Mark got on his knees, and pulled the ring out. Lisa gave a shrill cry that had everybody running inside. Thinking there had been an accident. Sally and Frank were standing there just as Lisa said Yes. And another shrill cry as Sally ran to greet and hug Lisa. Sally couldn’t be any happier with her son’s selection in picking a wife. Everybody that was there took their turns in congratulating the young couple. It was then that Mark told Lisa how his parents had wanted to buy her engagement ring.

As the party started to wind down and the guests were leaving, Sally took Lisa aside and told her. Welcome to the family Lisa, but now we need to start making wedding plans. Hearing Sally say that, Lisa told her that she needed to talk to Mark first. Yes, of course, how silly of me, go talk to Mark and see what you two can come up with, and then you and I can get together and go over everything you two want. said Sally. Lisa took off to look for Mark. When she found him she told Mark? We need to talk. Mark, I want to marry you, but I want to wait until after I get my degree, which should be around May of next year, by then you should have gotten a job in San Antonio, and worked whatever kinks there are in your armor, to make you more comfortable at your job and at the same time, I won’t have to take whatever bone is thrown at me, when I go looking for a job myself.

Mark thought about where Lisa was leading him and then said, I can see your point, but I hadn’t planned on waiting that long Lisa.! I understand what you’re saying, and I have to agree with you, but I want you for me, and me only, I don’t want to have to keep on sharing you with other guys. Lisa looked at Mark for a few minutes before saying. Mark. Remember when we first met at the library? Yes. Said Mark. Well Mark I haven’t been completely honest with you, but since that day I knew this was what I wanted. And I have been exclusive to you and you only, there have been no other guys inside my pants, and there never will be as long I’m with you. Sure, I have been out with other guys and petted a bit, but that’s as far as it’s gotten, but no more, I don’t want anybody but you."

Sunday morning after breakfast, Mark and Lisa were getting their things together to head back to San Antonio, when Sally went into Marks old room. Lisa was in the guest bedroom, as she had insisted to separate sleeping quarters, out of respect to Mark’s parents, even if it had meant her sleeping on the sofa, she was not going to budge on that. Mark and Lisa had been intimate for a while now, it was just that she didn’t want to take advantage of Frank and Sally’s generosity Mark. Said Sally. Son we haven’t spoken about your impending wedding yet, and I so wanted to get together with Lisa to make some plans. There’s not going to be any planning done mom. What!!! Sally’s smile froze at what she had just heard her son say. Oh Mark. What happened honey? Nothing mom, only that Lisa wants to wait till after she graduates, before we get married. If Sally liked Lisa before, now she absolutely fell in love with her. Son, I understand her concerns about marrying to quickly, and I’ll have to agree with her on that one.

They left his parents’ house Sunday and went back to San Antonio to resume their studies. Graduation was getting close for Mark and he was starting to get the jitters just thinking about it. All he needed was the summer and fall semester and he would be through with his studies with Lisa following in the spring semester. Lisa in the meanwhile had been spending a lot of time with Sally going over what she wanted for her wedding if they weren’t on the phone Sally would have Lisa going to Dallas and spending the weekend with them. Lisa had planned on going to a retail outlet to look for her wedding dress but Sally would not hear of it. Sally was insisting on getting a wedding dress custom made for Lisa. Sally finally talked Lisa into letting her buy her wedding dress and some accessories to go with it. At the same time, they were discussing the wedding preparations Sally had been asking Lisa about her parents. With help from Ed she was going to try to find them.

Time seemed to have been moving at a snail’s pace before graduations. Mark had been working hard to make sure that he would pass the exams and get his diploma. Finally, it was graduation time, Mark felt proud about himself because he was going to graduate in the top ten of his class, when the day finally came Mark had Lisa glowing with joy as she watched him walk the stage to get his diploma, his Parents and Ed were there also feeling so proud of their son. Frank and Sally wanted to celebrate their son’s graduation, and decided to throw a big party for him, they had even gone out and brought some presents for Mark. After the parties and celebrations were over, life settled down for Mark and Lisa.

It wasn’t long before Mark found a job with a firm in San Antonio and moved in to a small apartment, Lisa would join him there when she could get away, as the apartment was pretty far from the campus, Lisa also didn’t much like the drive, traffic was getting daunting, and sometimes, it seemed like it took her forever to get back to her dorm, and the tiny room she shared with two other girls. Mark was happy to see her at least two to three times a week and weekends when she would stay over. Mark tried to keep Lisa happy so when she would come visit him he would sometimes take her out to eat, other times he would take her out to eat and to dance, it was at one of those dances that he first noticed that when Lisa got a little tipsy she seemed to lose control and start flirting with whomever took her out to the dancefloor. He had enjoyed seeing her like that but he wasn’t going to take the chance that she would go outside with anybody but him. Mark made sure to take her home before she did anything to embarrass herself.

The following year Lisa graduated with her degree in nursing administration. Mark was so proud to see Lisa walking down the stage to receive her diploma, his parents not to be left out were there also to cheer her on. Lisa’s parents were not there, Lisa had lost contact with her parents, as her father had left the family and remarried when she was still very young. Her mom had waited until she found out Lisa’s father had remarried before she started going out, until she finally hooked up with a man that would later become her second husband. A few years later her mom and her new husband moved somewhere, and Lisa never heard from her again. A week later Mark and Lisa made plans to move to Dallas, as his parents were living in Florida by now. Sally was busy making plans with Lisa for the upcoming wedding.

Sally asked Lisa if she had ever been to Los Angeles. Lisa told her no, she had never been there. Sally told Lisa she was going to take her there to go shopping, and get fitted for her wedding dress. Sally had Lisa with her in Los Angeles for a week. And she had made sure to buy whatever Lisa liked. She even took her to Rodeo Drive, to try to entice her into buying some sexy lingerie for her honeymoon. Sally loved Lisa as if she was her own daughter so money was no object to her. She made sure to get her some evening gowns and of course, why go on a honeymoon without going to the beach? So, she bought her some bikinis some of them were very daring, but Sally didn’t care because Lisa had the body to fit a bikini perfectly. Sally I think this bikini’s show to much skin. It’s alright honey they’re meant to enhance your beauty, and if Mark says something about them just let me take care of him. as the week went by they returned to Dallas to make final plans for the wedding.

Mark’s parents had decided that it would be a good idea for Lisa to move to Florida with them until the wedding. Mark wasn’t too happy with that arrangement but he went along with it for appearance sake, as his mother had explained that it wouldn’t look to good, to have a church wedding while living together. Lisa was ecstatic at the opportunity to stay with Mark’s parents. Sally had her out most every night. If Lisa had too much to drink Sally was there to look after her, and make sure to keep the men away from her. They also spent a lot of time by the pool in their backyard. Sally couldn’t help but notice the looks that the men would give Lisa, especially when they went to the beach, Luckily the men and young boys had seen Sally with her and for most part stayed away.

He wasn’t too happy at not being able to see Lisa during the week, Mark had gotten used to having Lisa come over several times a week when they had been in San Antonio and now he would only get to see her on weekends and only those times when he didn’t have to work on Saturday’s, they spent a lot of time talking on the phone but it wasn’t the same as having her there. He had tried several times to get her to go visit him in Dallas but his mom had refused to let her go, not until after the wedding she had told him.

CHAPTER 2

The Wedding

The day of the wedding finally arrived. As Lisa was getting some things she was going to wear that day, she looked out the window just as a car was parking in front of the house. Lisa could not believe her eyes when she saw who was getting of the car. It was her parents!!! And they were holding hands.!! They didn’t seem mad at each other, in fact they looked to be very happy and in love with each other. Lisa ran outside to greet her parents, she could not believe she was finally seeing both, and much