“Hey, sweetheart.” Her voice is tight, like she’s trying too hard to sound casual.
There’s music in the background, clinking glasses, laughter. I roll my eyes, knowing exactly what she’s doing. It’s her routine every weekday from 11am until dinner: drinking with her friends, dressed to the nines, and pretending like she loves her life.
“Where are you?” I ask, walking to the window and looking out over the water.
“Oh, out with friends. Nowhere special. Don’t worry about that.” There’s a pause and a clipped sigh. “WhatI’mworried about is why your father had to tell me you’re pregnant.”
My stomach flip flops. I drop onto the couch, curling a throw pillow into my lap. “He told you?”
“Of course he told me. He was losing his God damn mind. You know your father. He can’t keep his mouth shut when he’s upset.”
I pick at a loose thread on the blanket, trying to focus on it instead of the ache in my chest. I’m willing to bet he kept his mouth shut about me walking in on him fucking Una’s face. “I was going to tell you. I just…I haven’t even told Tommy yet.”
My mother goes quiet for a beat.
In the background, a woman calls out, “Catarina!” and my mom laughs. “Just a sec! Yes, order one for me.”
She sighs. “Sweetheart, why haven’t you told Tommy? You don’t think he needs to know?”
I swallow hard, on the verge of tears. “I’m not ready to break his heart.”
She exhales hard. “Oh, Giovanna. You’re scared.” The ice in her glass clinks as she takes a sip. “Is it…Do you know who…Um, have you….”
She’s trying to ask me who the father is. That’s not a conversation I want to have right now.
“I just don’t know how to say the words.”
“Would it help if I were there with you? Would you like me to come over?”
Hard pass.
“No, Mom. That’s okay. But thank you. I think it’s a conversation we should probably have privately.”
“Okay, that sounds like a good plan.” When I don’t respond, she takes a sip of her drink again. “How are you and Tommy doing? Everything good with you two?”
My voice comes out smaller than I want it to. “I think he slept with his assistant. I cannot stand her, and she’s fucking everywhere all the time.”
Her tone changes immediately, like she just woke up. “Una?”
My head jerks up. “Wait—how do you know Tommy’s assistant?”
My mom’s voice drops low, almost gravelly. She’s in public and using that tone? Oh my God—does she know my dad has been having an affair with her?
“Because I’ve met her. She’s not my favorite person.”
A dry laugh escapes me. “She’s not my favorite person either.”
I hear a bang like my mother slammed her glass on the table. “So she’s fucking Tommy now?”
Something sounds off about how she phrased that question. My pulse picks up.
“What do you mean ‘now?’” I ask. I need to hear her say that she knows about my father’s affair before I say anything. I don’t want to upset her unnecessarily.
“I don’t know,” she says quickly. “I just mean, is she fucking him.”
“No,” I say, leaning forward, gripping the blanket tighter. “You said ‘now,’ like she was fucking someone else before. Who was she fucking before?”
Or does my mom know that she was with Antonio—and didn’t tell me? If that’s the case, what the actual fuck? Do I have no allies at all?
