Mellice Linton looked at her son. “Well?”
“Well?”
“Have you seen your father?”
“No, not yet.”
“Typical.” She took off several bracelets and a silver
ring and set a bowl down in the sink. “I have some nice prawns. Fresh.”
“It’s just a week. I’m sure his contact with the outside
world will be slow to process.”
“Oh, another week will go by. Then a month. Maybe he’s
sees you, maybe he doesn’t.”
“Veronica is not allowed to visit him even with me.”
She stopped peeling the prawns. “Well, that is harsh.
But, he has created his own disaster.”
“He believes—“
“And he won’t be seeing his whore any time soon.”
“Mother!”
“Oh, grow up, Adam. You think I don’t know anything? I
know everything.”
He took a beer out of the fridge. “I am not going to
wallow around in that mud with the two of you.”
“She’s a whore. Get some lettuce out for us. And slice a
tomato.”
“This knife okay?”
“Yes. Have you been seeing anyone? Outside of work I
mean.”
“You ask me that every time you see me or talk to me.”
“Adam, you need to be more open. To be seeing others.”
“Women you mean.”
She set a pot of water on the stove to boil the prawns. “Yes,
yes, women. A woman. Someone.”
“And what do I always say—too soon. Too soon. I’m not
ready.”
“Ready? For what? To talk to another woman. It’s been—“
“Stop. I know how long it’s been since…since.”
“Since Laura died?”
“Mother, please.”
“Mix the tomatoes into the lettuce. Use the vinaigrette
in the tall green bottle. Veronica needs a—“
“To not use Veronica with me.” He pushed the bowl away
from him. “You don’t know how it is.”
“I don’t know what it means to lose a partner, a spouse?
Do you not understand what your father did to me, to our family?”
“Mother, must we do this all the time? I just want to
have lunch, visit, and get back to work.”
“You’re a good man, a young man. You should be with
someone. That’s all I want. Is that terrible?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“No, of course not. I’m not ready.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Not ready? Then not ready.”
“Okay. Thank you. Did you sign up at the museum like you
said you would? The one Sadie told you about?”
“Yes. I have to go through the training program—about a
week—then I will be assigned a mentor for the first few weeks. Maybe Sadie.
That would be good. I should be ready to give tours just before the Monet
exhibit begins.”
“Excited?”
She dropped the prawns into the boiling water. “Nervous.
A little. But, Sadie will help me.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine. Telling people what’s what,
telling them where to go.” He laughed.
“Well, smart one, not everyone listens to me, do they?”
“God, Mother. But you are relentless.” He looked out the
dining room windows to the sea.
“You look like your father staring out into space.”
“Sorry. I have several projects going and Veronica needs
to see the dentist this week and at some point, I guess, I am going to see him.”
“He is certainly the fool this time. Such a smart smart man.
Such a fool. Get the white bowls out of the dishwasher. They’re clean.”
“He is a smart man. He gambled his reputation would save
him, I guess. I don’t really understand.”
She tossed the prawns in with the salad. “He’s selfish.”
“He believes what he believes.”
“Fool. And his whore can’t do anything to help him this
time.”
“Oh, Mother, please!”
“Okay, okay, sit. Eat.”
And so they quietly set themselves to the simple task
before them.
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