Page 47 - TheBridge_Vol16
P. 47
and then I pulled hard, the string breaking “You’re so tall now,” she kept saying, even
free from the now jagged hem. though the kitchen door frame at home
proved I was four and a half inches shorter
“Okay,” I finally said. “I’ll meet with her.” than the twins. “You’re just so tall now!”
Auntie Gia reached across the counter and I barely ate any guacamole while my mother
squeezed my shoulder. “But don’t expect too told me all about her new apartment. It
much, okay?” she said. I couldn’t remember was real nice with four windows and a big
the last time I expected too much. bedroom and a couch, big enough for me to
visit sometime.
–
I didn’t hold my breath.
A week later, I went to Chili’s and waited
in the car with Auntie Gia until my mother “You heard from your daddy?” she asked,
pulled up next to us in the passengers seat biting on the straw to her water. Two half-
of a silver sedan. A man was driving. She melted ice cubes bobbed on the surface,
thanked him and waved to him as he drove barely surviving.
off. She stood in the empty parking space
for a long time, looking in the car window I swallowed hard. I thought about the
at me with her hands over her mouth. letter I saw on Auntie Gia’s desk the year
Finally, Auntie Gia rubbed my arm and I before when I was looking where I wasn’t
got out of the car. My mother hugged me. supposed to be looking. It was in a coffee
Coconut shampoo. stained envelope addressed from Sand Haven
Rehabilitation Center and I got a lump in my
“Charlie,” she said, holding my face in her throat when I read it. He wanted to see me,
small, cold hands. Her hair was blonde and it said. He wanted to see his daughter. I
curly just like I’d remembered. Mine was quickly shoved it back in the envelope when
curly and blonde too, but her eyes were I heard Auntie Gia coming back upstairs.
brown and mine were blue.
I shook my head.
Auntie Gia waited in the car the whole time
me and my mother ate at Chili’s. We talked I hadn’t heard from my father.
a lot about nothing at all, mostly my mother
talking because she was nervous. I had After, she left two crumpled twenties on
nothing to say. My mother asked if I liked the table and we walked out to the parking
guacamole and ordered the endless bowl of lot again. She hugged me and told me we
it right away. She said, “No, no,” when the should do this again sometime. She never
waitress pointed at the margarita list. She told me she loved me. Instead, I got into
kept telling me that she was sorry and kept Auntie Gia’s car and waved weakly to my
telling me how happy she was to see me. mother as she stood in the Chili’s parking
lot waiting for her ride, watching us drive
I thought about all of the times I’d wondered away.
about her, and needed her, and then I felt
empty again. That was the last time I saw her.
Vol. XVI | 35
