It’s not the first time I’ve heard them—at least, not the harshest version of them.
Just as I knew would happen, the gossip about me blew up a thousand times worse after my sharp response to the intrusive customer who asked which of the boys I wasreallyseeing.
I knew people were talking, but I had no idea the most aggressive version of the rumors was spreading so wildly that it would be the very first thing my mother heard when she stepped off the ferry from Athens.
The people gossiping about my life didn’t even know her. They had no idea she was my mother. They were simply talking about the scandalous woman who had just returned home after years away and had apparently gotten involved not with one of Khione’s shining jewels—the boys—but with all four.
Mom immediately recognized who the malicious, lying gossip was about, and that’s why she came home looking so desperate.
“What do you want me to do? I can’t control what people say.”
“No, but youcancontrol something much more important—their raw material. Your behavior,” she says.
I open my mouth, then decide to think more carefully before answering. I run the tip of my tongue over my lips.
“Are you telling me I should let people dictate how I live my life? Because if that’s the case, then I clearly misunderstood the last twenty-one years of how you raised me,” I reply seriously.
My mother closes her eyes briefly.
“That’s not what I’m saying, my daughter.” She stands and moves from her spot on the sofa to sit beside me. Her hand intertwines with mine before she continues. “My point is that soon you’ll be leaving—and I won’t. And I truly don’t want to spend the next few months listening to my daughter being slandered. I’d hate to ruin my spotless record over Khione’s gossip mongers. I cameveryclose today to punching the women spreading rumors. For ten seconds, I completely forgot about elder protection laws and the meaning of sorority.”
She speaks too fast, her voice rising with each sentence, and I can’t help it—I laugh. It immediately eases some of the weight pressing on my chest.
The idea that my mother might be asking me to do something that goes against everything she’s ever taught me—or worse, that she might believe even a single line of the lies being spread—only made the discomfort of knowing the gossip was affecting her even heavier.
I let out a long breath.
“I’ll be more discreet,” I decide, even though saying it makes me want to wrinkle my nose.
My mother nods, and it doesn’t surprise me that she doesn’t know what to say next. Whatisthere to say? Life can be an unfair bitch sometimes.
I decide to focus on the good things. Even if my incredible news doesn’t feel quite as bright in my own head right now, I tell my mother about it as if I truly believe it’s the best news in the world.
“I got another email.”
Her eyes widen, and the smile I expected to see on her face when I first hinted at it finally spreads across her lips.
“From the nurses’ program?” I nod. “Come on, Nina. Tell me what the email said.”
“A summons to do medical exams and submit documents over the next few weeks. They also scheduled my travel date.” I leave the part I like thinking about the least for last.
My mother, unaware of that, claps her hands excitedly. Well—if the nursing thing doesn’t work out, I could probably try acting, considering how easily I’m convincing her.
“When?”
“In three months.”
“Three months,” she repeats softly before pressing her lips into a grimace and wrapping her arms around me, pulling meinto a hug. “I can’t believe you barely came back to me and I’m already going to lose you again.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Mom. I’m not going to die—I’m just going to work in another country. And this time it’ll be different. We’ll have enough money for me to come see you at least once a month, or for you to go there.”
I adjust the speech I’ve been giving myself—about someone other than my mother.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had this conversation with myself. I start by saying I’m overreacting, that the plan is the plan and nothing has changed. Very little time has passed since I said that with absolute certainty for anything to have truly changed.
Ten seconds later, I’m declaring myself completely incapable of maintaining that lie.
I could have planned everything that’s happening yesterday, and it still wouldn’t change the fact that before, I had nothing to worry about. I’d be far from my mother again, yes—but that’s part of life. Children grow up and follow their own paths.
