She Has Your Eyes by Lorello Elisa

Author:Lorello, Elisa [Lorello, Elisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Published: 2014-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

chapter twenty-five

I couldn’t help but wonder if the impromptu appearance of Devin was a way for David and me to avoid the conversations we needed to have. Nevertheless, the days following our encounter passed without my bringing up my mother’s request, and David and I returned to our routines.

Columbus Day weekend was around the corner, and David wanted Wylie to spend the weekend. “I can take her to all my galleries in Boston.” He often referred to the galleries he did business with in the possessive. “You should see her work, Andi. She sent me a few photos and I tell ya, she’s got talent. Send her to the right people and she’ll be a star.”

“David, are you sure you’re not rushing things? I mean, she’s fifteen. I’m sure she’d rather be at the mall with her friends this weekend.”

He soured. “Way to kill my buzz.”

“David, I wasn’t—” I started, but he interrupted me.

“I’m still going to invite her.”

He called her after dinner, and after ten minutes he handed the phone to me in the den, visibly disappointed. “She wants to talk to you.”

Surprised, I took hold of it and spoke, “Hello?”

“Hi,” said Wylie. “So I can’t meet David this weekend because I’m going to my friend’s Sweet Sixteen on Sunday. But I have a paper due next Wednesday for English and was wondering if you could help me with it. I thought maybe you could come on Saturday.”

“Oh,” I said, not expecting the request. “Just me? Or David too?”

“Well, I thought just you this time, and then I’d see David another time. I don’t—please don’t think that means I don’t like him or anything.”

“I didn’t think that,” I said, although I knew David might be thinking otherwise. “Thing is, this Saturday isn’t the best day for me.” I didn’t need to look at the calendar to know why.

“Oh,” she said, sounding just as disappointed as David looked. But something pressed on me. So this was what it felt like to let your kids down. I could never understand the guilt parents felt when they had to miss their kid’s school play or recital or soccer game because of work or some other obligation. What’s the big deal? I would think. It’s not as if there won’t be another. Not as if you don’t see the kid at all. Wylie wasn’t even my kid, and I felt as if I were kicking her in the shins.

However, I felt torn. If I agreed to tutor Wylie, then David would feel left out, and might even resent me. If I said no to Wylie, she might think I was rejecting her, and that could potentially affect her relationship with David; he would resent me for that too. And where did I fit into this? I hadn’t yet decided how I was going to observe the day. I didn’t think I wanted to be alone this year, but tutoring my husband-to-be’s newly discovered teenage daughter hadn’t come close to the agenda.

I caved. “Let me see what I can do.

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