Sometimes Love Hurts Read Free

asked. 
Crystal shook her head.  She had not yet told her mom that she did not want to return home that night.  She really needed to take a break from Blake.
    “Good, let’s take our tea and cookies into the living room.  I want you to get comfortable as I tell you a story.” 
       Curiously, Crystal followed her mother into the living room and settled on the couch. Lisa left and returned moments later with some journals in her hands that were tied shut with yellow ribbons.
    “I’m going to share with you, my parents’ past.”
    Crystal looked at her oddly.  “Grandma and grandpa have been dead for years,” she said.  “I never even got to meet them.”
    Lisa took out their wedding picture and handed it to her daughter. 
    “These two people taught me more about love and life than I could ever teach you,” she said, “and now I think maybe it’s time they teach you about those things too.”
    “Beautiful picture, mom,” Crystal said handing it back.  “I see a little of you in her.”
    “Ha ha,” Lisa laughed.  “That’s what my friends tell me when they see a picture of you.”
      Crystal smiled.  It was a compliment to say that she resembled her mother.
    “You need to call Blake to let him know where you are and not to worry about you.  This is going to take a while, and you might want to spend the night if it’s too late.”  
    Crystal didn’t mention to her mother that she already sent one.  She leaned back on the couch ready to hear what her mother had to say.
    “You know, honey, love and marriage are probably the hardest jobs you will ever undertake,” Lisa began as she settled next to her.  “I’m going to go back in time to a day when I was in college.  That was over twenty-five years ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday...”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
    Ghosts of the Past
    Lisa’s Story                                                                                   
     
    Lisa Da’mico lay on her parents’ bed with her eyes closed imagining that her parents were still around her. She could still smell the Old Spice aftershave on her father’s pillowcase.  Her mind drifted back to a time when she was a child.  Lisa rubbed vinegar on her father’s head while he explained that his hair would grow if she massaged it.  And she could still hear her mother laughing.
     
    “You’d say anything to get a head rub from that child, wouldn’t you?”
      Her dad, Michael, extended his arm, squeezed Lisa’s waist and whispered, “We’ll show her, won’t we?  My bald spot will soon have hair again.” Then he pointed out a few new sprouts of hair.  Those made Lisa giggle and continue the hair rubs anticipating new growth. 
     
    That was such a long time ago.  As Lisa lay on her parents’ bed a few teardrops escaped from her eyes and ran toward her ears onto the pillow.  She finished reading the journals her mother had made for her, and finally understood what her mother was trying to relate to her.
    Lisa had been raised on the south side of Chicago. A college student, she attended Loyola University College.  She was never one to worry much about her appearance.  She had long brown hair that she usually tied into a braid and never wore much makeup – maybe some mascara on occasion, but she was far more interested in her studies than her looks.  She planned to be a teacher, and wanted to be home with her children. That is whenever she eventually married and had them.  Being a teacher would allow her to have each summer off, plus be able to spend holidays with her kids.
    Sitting up, Lisa wiped her face dry with the back of her hand and thought of her dad again.  His passing was still fresh in her mind.  Michael had managed a bakery until he became ill.   She wanted to remember the fun times she spent with him, like the day they all dressed up to