Now We Will Be Happy by Amina Gautier

Author:Amina Gautier [Gautier, Amina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC029000 Fiction / Short Stories (single Author)
ISBN: 9780803256910
Publisher: Nebraska
Published: 2014-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

I find my mother and father necking on the couch. One shame-faced, the other daring, they partly detach, long enough for my father to help my mother sit up. Long enough for her to smooth her skirt, blow hair out of her eyes. Long enough for him to drape his arm over her shoulder and leave it there.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” I ask him before either of them can speak.

He shrugs. “What difference does it make? She only wants her nieta,” he mocks, sounding like a small child.

Once he has gone, my mother tries to explain. “He told me what happened. He said he didn’t know where else to go.”

“So he came here?” I can’t keep the sarcasm from my voice. “After not stepping foot in this apartment since I was what—twelve—he decides to drop by today?”

“It was the one place he knew he wouldn’t have to face you.” Suddenly, miraculously, my mother has become an expert on my father. Suddenly, she knows so much.

“Except here I am.”

“We kind of lost track of time.”

“I see,” I say, although I don’t.

“He was very hurt. He pouts when he doesn’t get his way,” she says. “She threw him out but kept you. He was jealous of you.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“He’s always been like that.”

I don’t know how he has always been and I don’t want to know now. “So am I supposed to be sorry that—”

“No, no. Of course not. He should have understood. You’ve always been special to her. She was always willing to take you when you were young and your father and I were so busy with everything.” She changes the subject. “Do you think she would mind if I came to see her?”

“No,” I say. “You should.”

“If I could change the past—” my mother begins. She stops, seeming to stare at something in the corner of the kitchen. “We were so young and stupid then. It’s a good thing you spent more time with her than us,” she says, the closest she will come to an apology.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.