The Heart of Blood by Christopher Leonidas

Author:Christopher Leonidas
Language: spa
Format: epub
Published: 2015-10-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Octa was sitting at the dinner table discussing some employee at work that kept post-dating his data, and how work was becoming too chaotic, but Lucinda barely heard him. He even mentioned that Bob was located in Delray Beach, Florida. He had decided to quit his job without informing his superiors and was reluctant to talk to anyone.

Flashes of what had happened that afternoon kept passing by as she sat uncomfortably in her chair eating her soup. Juan had gone to North Miami Beach to meet some old friend that evening before supper, and wouldn’t be back anytime soon. She was relieved that he wasn’t there through dinner.

The guilt would have been unbearable. She had completely lost track of what Octa was rambling on about when she heard him.

“Lucy? Is everything okay? You look tense,” he inquired, breaking off from his work problems.

“Oh . . . It’s nothing . . . I’m just a little tired,” she said meekly, trying hard to hide the traces of nervousness in her voice.

“Is my brother giving you a good scare?” Octa asked, grinning.

“No . . .” Lucinda uttered. “He’s almost always pre-occupied.”

“Really? What does he do all day?” Octa looked at her as if there was nothing that could be bothering her from the inside.

“Well, he drinks a lot, so he seems grumpy all the time . . . Love?” Lucinda was choosing her words very carefully.

“Yeah.”

“Where has Juan been the past few years?” She suddenly realized that was too direct an approach. “He seems terribly depressed most of the time. . . I thought maybe you would know better what could be bothering him.”

“Don’t concern yourself too much. He’s always been a heavy drinker,” Octa said with a weird smile, “a well-rounded sour puss.”

Lucinda smiled back at Octa. “Why didn’t he ever get married?” She thought this the best way to address the question she desperately wanted answered.

Octa started snickering. “You know, I’ve never told you this story.” Octa took a big gulp of wine to wash his dinner down.

“What story?”

“Well, back in high school, Juan was pretty good at school, and I used to be good with all the girls,” he smirked.

She looked at him with surprise.

“It is very flattering that my wife finds this fact hard to believe.” They both cracked up as Octa began revealing the story Lucinda was particularly eager to hear.

“That was back when he used to sport a pair of dorky glasses that made him look like a complete nerd. We both liked this one girl in school . . . and well, I am not particularly proud of cock blocking my little brother, even though it was fun. So we both asked her out to the prom, and she said yes.”

“To whom?” she asked, puzzled.

“Me, just like you did when I asked you out that cold December night.” Octa leaned in close, trying to compensate for the jealousy he assumed Lucinda would be feeling and gave her a soft peck on the cheek. She was far from jealous.

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