The Parting Gift by Evan Fallenberg

Author:Evan Fallenberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2018-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Nina and I rarely met on purpose. It was more like we would run into one another and linger to talk for a few minutes as we hung the laundry or walked on the beach. I never just popped in on her, unless it was to borrow an ingredient missing from a recipe; she, on the other hand, sometimes came by with a question, or something she needed Uzi to agree to and would enlist my help. But on this particular afternoon, when she pulled up in our shared driveway she came straight to our screen door, knocked, and entered the kitchen, where I was baking shortbread rounds with a variety of spices.

“Smells good,” she said.

“First batch will be out soon,” I said. “Join me for coffee.”

She fell into the nearest chair, drew in and blew out a deep breath, and flicked her long auburn ringlets over her shoulder. “I’m worried about Rinat,” she said.

The girl had been coming around less and less frequently. I had the vague sense she was miffed about something I’d said weeks earlier, though now I couldn’t recall what it was. But anyway, she’d always been unpredictable with her time, her moods. I figured she would show up again when she felt like it.

“She hasn’t been coming home nights,” Nina told me. “And they called from school to say she’s been sketchy about making it to classes. She texts me, so I know she’s okay, but I don’t know what’s going on and it’s making me…agitated.”

“Friends?” I asked. “Her last year of school, you know…”

She looked pained, and it took her a moment to respond, her voice quieter. “She doesn’t really have any, not to speak of. I thought you knew that.”

I had removed the shortbread rounds from the oven and placed a few on the table along with two mugs. Nina didn’t make any move toward touching them.

It seemed clear that Rinat hadn’t told her mother about the guy in Tel Aviv, if that indeed was where she’d disappeared to. I wasn’t about to betray any confidences. “How about if I text her,” I offered. “Sometimes she talks to me.”

“That would be great,” Nina said, smiling for the first time. She broke off a piece of shortbread and tasted it. “This is wild,” she said. “Is that…cardamom?”

“Yeah. And Yemenite cinnamon.”

“Feels like we should be eating them on the back of a camel.” We both laughed.

“It may be my fault,” she said. “This business with Rinat. I’m not around a lot lately. I…I’m seeing someone.”

“Nice,” I said.

“Well, yes, it is,” she said, smiling again. “He’s…hmmm. How to describe him…well, no offense, but he’s the opposite of Uzi. Communicative and caring. Expresses his feelings. Tells me I’m beautiful, that sort of thing. I’m eating it up because I’ve never had that before, as you know. Or…do you know? I mean, is Uzi different with you? I failed with him, never found those things in him, but maybe you…?”

I didn’t mind when Rinat told me

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