“Was she expecting you? She didn’t mention it. Not that she really tells me anything anymore,” Nora mutters.
My eyes cast downwards. “No, this was a last-minute hangout to talk.”
Raising my eyes slowly when Nora doesn’t move or answer, I discover her eyeing me suspiciously. She gives Rafael a look that he picks up on immediately since he excuses himself and goes to the living room, where he can no longer see us.
“Sit down with me for a minute, Cameron. Do you want anything to drink? I have soda, juice, or water?”
I shuffle uncomfortably in the seat. Hell, now I’m scared. “Soda sounds good.”
She rummages through the fridge and hands me an orange colored Colombian soda that Kami introduced me to a while ago.
“Here you go, sweetie.” At least she’s calling me sweetie.
Nora is a sweet but intimidating five-foot-five woman with shoulder-length wavy dark hair, tawny brown skin, and dark eyes that Ana inherited. She was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia and moved here twenty-four years ago when she was only twenty.
Nora takes the seat across from me on the dining room table. “Cameron, I want to ask if you and Ana are okay? I’ve felt some changes in your guys’ dynamic lately, and I’m worried.”
“Mrs. Mora—I mean Nora, have you tried talking to Ana about it? I know it’s not my place, but I believe she would be comfortable enough to have spoken to you about her problems. I know Kamila always has.”
Her shoulders drop, and for a second, since the first time I met her, the exhaustion in her eyes is evident. She straightens back in her chair. “I love both of my daughters very much, and I would do absolutely anything for them. I’m sure that by now you’ve seen they’re completelydifferent people. Which is a great thing; however, Ana barely talks to me about her feelings. She’s simple in many ways and difficult in others. It’s hard to sit down and have a serious conversation with her. Kamila is the opposite. She’s complex, but has always been an open book about everything. So, to answer your question, you’re right about Kami coming to me with her problems when she needs help…Ana hasn’t for a long time now. That’s why I’m askingyouif there is something currently wrong in your relationship.”
Taking a sip of my soda to buy me some time, I decide to be honest.
“Ana and I have been fighting more than usual lately.” I look to Nora, who signals to me to keep going. “I spoke to Kami about it yesterday and she told me to be straight up with Ana. If you’re wondering what we have fought about, I honestly can’t remember half of it.”
“Let me ask you this, Cam. Have you even tried to remember what the fights were about? Do you remember who usually started them?”Opening my mouth to answer, she puts a hand up. “Really think about it for a minute before answering.”
I think hard about the arguments we’ve had in the past couple of months. Bits and pieces come back to me. Some of them were about girls she was jealous of that I’d talk to in school or around the pool area, specifically with this girl named Olive. Olive and I’s conversations were only about class projects or the swim team. Okay, so that’s one topic that’s brought up often. Still, I focus on anything else we would have argued about, then a memory comes to me. It was about her canceling our plans too often at the last minute because she decided to hang out with her friends instead. I tried to explain that I didn’t mind her hanging out with her friends, but it was rude and hurtful to cancel so often at the last minute. She then became defensive and started to yell. Looking back, I remember more and realize that almost every fight was initiated by her. It was always her blowing everything out of proportion or not listening to my side of things.
“Mhm, that’s what I thought.” Nora knocks me out of my haze. “I like you, Cameron. I think you’re a good boyfriend and are going to be a great man if you continue to grow the way that you are. I do not thinkmy daughter is a bad person, but she has issues that she needs to work through. Ana does love you, I can see it. If you both decide to end things, I understand. Give her a chance and try to talk to her. Be honest and do not back down no matter what she says, even if she starts yelling at the top of her lungs. That is if you don’t want to end things now.”
Observing Nora’s face, looking for any hints of sarcasm or ill intent, I don’t find any. She’s always been a no-bullshit type of person.
I do love Ana, and even so, I can’t deny that the fights have been completely draining. She isn’t a bad person, maybe we’re just young and need to learn how to communicate better. I want to make this work. I want to fight for us. I want to help her through her issues. I’m not a quitter.
“I don’t want to end things. I want to work it out.”
Nora nods and smiles. “Okay.”
“Thank you, Nora.”
“Thank you for what?”
We both jump at Ana’s voice. She’s smiling at me with curiosity. That same smile I fell in love with.
“We were catching up on how he’s been doing in school and with his family. I have to check in on his life too, as a concerned mother, of course,” Nora lies easily.
Ana rolls her eyes. “Are you done with the interrogation?”
“He’s all yours.”
She smiles and takes my hand. “Come on, babe, let’s go to my room.” We make our way up the stairs.
“No funny business up there, you two. You do plenty of that when Rafael and I are at work,” Nora says loudly from downstairs.
My eyes widen. “How the fuck does your mom know everything?” I whisper.
“I heard that,” Nora says.
