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Elvira's eyes narrow in an amused look before she nods.

"Of course. Go ahead."

"What happened between you and my mom? Why did the relationship fall apart?"

Elvira can't hide her surprise.

"You don't know?"

"No. My mom always gave me the runaround when I asked—she said it was sister stuff I couldn't understand because I don't have one. So I stopped asking."

"God, your mother outdoes herself every time I think she can't."

Claudia lets out a small laugh, nodding.

"Honestly, nothing serious happened—I mean, there was no single event, no real reason. It wasn't a fight with a clear trigger. It was a buildup that one day made me explode. Your mom used to show up at the factory whenever she felt like it and always gave me orders, as if being that much older than me had somehow left me permanently stuck as a child and made her the only one who knew what was good for the business. There wasn't a single visit where she didn't tell me how to do my job—she had complaints about the staff because according to her they weren't properly trained, she thought the pricing was wrong, and basically she found fault with everything. Every time she came I felt sick, and I'd spend two days with a migraine because of her."

"Yeah, that sounds a lot like my mom," Claudia murmurs.

"It really does. One day I put my foot down. She showed up without warning and started in on her usual list of complaints, and I lost it—I told her to stop interfering in my life, to handle her stores and let me run my factory however I saw fit." Elvira settles back against her chair. "And she didn't like that one bit. She was so offended that she stopped coming. From that day on we only kept in touch for the production matters related to the pieces we make for your stores."

"And you never tried to fix it?"

"I always thought about it, because I knew that if I didn't make the first move she never would. I wanted to do it for you—to stay in your life—but I could never find the right moment, because I knew your mom would slip right back into her old ways. She can't help wanting to control everything, and in the end I put my own mental health above the family relationship." She pauses and looks at her. "And I'm sorry, Claudia. If I had done it, I would've been more present in your life and maybe I could've helped you."

Claudia is quiet for a moment, looking at her aunt, and then shakes her head very slowly because she can't hold it against her.

"You did what you had to do to stay sane, and I understand that. Too bad I still haven't figured out how to do the same."

"You will. I promise," Elvira says. "Should we head inside? You're going to be amazed by my talent for making homemade pizzas that show up with a delivery guy."

Claudia bursts out laughing as she gets up.

Chapter 23

"Would you change anything about it, or do you think it's fine as is?" Remei asks, setting a coat pattern down in front of her—one of the styles the factory has been producing for years.

"Is that a trick question?" Claudia says, narrowing her eyes.

Remei lets out a short laugh and shakes her head.

"No, I mean it. Just because it sells well doesn't mean we can't have opinions about what could be better."

Remei loves her new task—the one Elvira assigned her on Monday when Claudia came back to her section and her boss came to find her mid-morning.

"Remei, do you have a minute?" she asked from the doorway.

Claudia glanced up and gave her aunt a quick wave because she was so focused on what she was doing that she didn't even remember seeing her for the rest of the day. Remei walked around the table, stepped into the hallway, and followed Elvira to the building entrance, where she stopped in front of the coffee machine, put in a coin, and told her to order whatever she wanted. Remei got herself a lemon tea and waited for her boss's cappuccino.

"I need you to teach Claudia—not just the production side, but everything she needs to know to turn her designs into something real. She has barely a month left here. Make sure she gets the most out of it."

"She's staying with me the whole month?"

"If that's what she wants, yes. I still need to talk to her about it. In the meantime, answer every question she has and put her to the test. We know she loves being there—feed that. Make her fall in love with it, or hate it. She's a little lost. She always wanted to design, but I don't think she's clear on whether that's all she wants, whether she wants to be part of the process from the beginning, or whether it's just a hobby and her real calling is something else."

"I don't think it's something else," Remei said after blowing on her tea and taking a sip. "You can tell with these things. Even as a little girl she could sit with me for hours and would groan when her mother came to get her. And she has a good eye—she's talented and she enjoys it. The two weeks she spent there at the beginning, she'd get so absorbed in what she was doing that she wouldn't have eaten a single day if I hadn't made her stop."

"Good. Then for the time she has left, we're going to let her dive in completely."