Te extraño, hermosa

"Eres hermoso," I told him. He was putting on his clothes and I was sitting with my legs hanging off the motel room bed. I had just put my clothes on while he was in the bathroom, and he walked out naked. Silently, I watched him put on underwear, then pants, and then look around on the floor for his shirt. Perfect smooth skin that ripples over muscle, his body is beautiful. "Eres heromoso," I told him as he pulled the shirt over his head. "Ah, but hermoso is a very strong word here," he said, stopping to smile at me. He's a beautiful man, but what really makes me melt is his smile. "Yo sé," I said, "You really are beautiful." When he leaned down to kiss me again I couldn't help smiling, too.

He's been away for a little while, only a week, but with new lovers the time always seems to drag between meetings. "Te extraño, hermosa" he texted me yesterday. "Pero hermosa es una palabra fuerza aquí" I texted him back, trying to echo his response to me when I used that word. "Sí" he responded "pero tu lo eres."

Latin men have that way with words. They lavish their women with compliments and declarations of love, they whisper poems into her ears. Amor, cielo, cariño, linda, terms of affection are used in the most casual way. Sometimes it's hard to know what to brush off and what is really meant in a heartfelt way. Does he like me? Am I being played? I ask myself these questions every time I'm with him. But then he'll do something nice like introduce me to his friends as "mi chica" or ask when I want to come meet his mother, and I start to think he really does want me.

I'm still learning Spanish, and I speak it badly. So my conversations can be a bit wonky. But here are some of the things I've learned:

eres hermoso/hermosa- you are beautiful

yo sé- I know

te extraño- I miss you

pero hermosa es una palabra fuerza aquí- but beautiful is a strong word here

sí, pero tu lo eres- yes, but you are