A Blossom of Bright Light by Chazin Suzanne

Author:Chazin, Suzanne [Chazin, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2015-09-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

The Serrano family was scrubbed and dressed and in their best church clothes by five past nine that Thursday morning. Luna paced back and forth by the front window of their apartment, watching for Señora Gonzalez’s black Escalade at the curb. Papi packed the last of the dishes in the kitchen before slipping on his lucky red tie. For once, Mateo and Dulce weren’t fighting. They were both glued to their father’s sides—so much so that when Papi went to dry his hands from the sink, he accidentally elbowed Dulce in the eye. She wailed uncontrollably, and Papi fell all over himself to make her stop.

They were all exhausted and wound tighter than a bunch of spinning tops. None of them slept last night. The last night. La última noche. None of them referred to it like that. To say it was to make it true. They’d spent it in Papi’s bed, curled around him like newborn puppies. At one point in the night, Luna heard him get up to go to the bathroom. He didn’t turn on any lights, but she heard his choked sobs through the door. When he came back, she closed her eyes tight and pretended to be asleep. She didn’t want him to know she’d heard him. Her father was so strong. A meat slicer amputated part of his finger and he went back to work in two days. Meningitis took Mami and he became both father and mother. A fire burned out their apartment and he found a new place to live and made it home. She couldn’t believe after all this that he could be broken by a piece of paper.

Her father had called their schools to say they couldn’t come in today. Then he made them breakfast, but none of them could eat. And now they waited for the señora’s car, surrounded by the contents of their apartment packed away in cardboard cartons—all except for Mami’s pink begonia plant. It sat on top of the cartons in the terra-cotta flowerpot Luna had painted all those years ago.

Luna looked at her watch. “Señora Gonzalez is late.” Papi gave her a sharp look, though she knew he was checking his watch too.

“You must remember to call her Doña Esme now, Luna. And the señor Don Charlie. They deserve those terms of honor.”

Luna knew her father was right that she should be grateful and do as they’d asked. But it was awkward to suddenly pretend that this balding little man with the sweaty palms and his no-nonsense young wife were anything but strangers. Luna didn’t know her father’s cousins Alirio and Maria José very well, but at least they were family.

Besides, she didn’t think Doña Esme liked her very much. The woman was okay with Mateo because he was a playmate for her sons. She responded to Dulce because she was young and needed a mother figure. But Luna? Doña Esme seemed to have no idea what to do with a teenage girl in her house.

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