“I don’t know if she wants me to.”
“She comes to me for the easy things. I’m the aunt who always says yes, but she needs you for the important stuff. And this is important.”
“Would I even be credible?”
“You are her mother, and you are human. She will understand.”
I gather my strength and go up to Linda. In the hallway, I find the pile of clean laundry with Tappo, her teddy bear, on top. I knock, but she doesn’t answer, and when I come in, she doesn’t speak to me.
“Linda?” Silence. “Look, I know you’re awake; you never sleep on your stomach.”
“First time for everything. What do you know?”
I sit on the edge of her bed and she rolls away. “I don’t bite.”
“I’m hot.”
“Do you want to tell me why you’re mad?” I approach her gently.
“I’m not.”
“Then why are you being so short with me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want to know what Michael and I were doing in the hut?”
“I know what you were doing. I’m not stupid,” she grumbles, turning on her side with her back to me.
“And what were we doing?”
“Having sex.”
“No. We were doing the same thing you and Tommaso did on the swings, more or less. Maybe more, maybe less, but the same thing.”
She rolls over suddenly, her big eyes shining. “You saw us?”
“Yeah.”
She dives face-first onto the pillow. “That’s it. Now you’re never going to let me leave the house again, and everything will be ruined.”
“I won’t do any of that,” I say, running my hand through her soft hair. “But it would be nice if you didn’t keep secrets from me, especially if you want me to trust you.”
“If I’d told you Tommaso had asked me to meet him tonight, would you have let me go?” she asks defiantly.
“Maybe not immediately. I might have asked why you’re so interested in him, for example.”
“So you would have let me?”
“I probably would have,” I admit, in spite of myself. “But not with that top your aunt gave you.”
“It was beautiful.”
“Yes, but suitable for a slightly older girl. So, would you like to tell me how long you’ve been in love with Tommaso?”
“Since last Christmas, when I met him at the school performance. You know how we all had to play that song on the flute? Well, he and I sat near each other.”
And I always thought learning to play the flute in middle school was useless! “Did you talk to each other?”
