It’d been a week since I saw her with that man. That was not the first time I’d walked in on my mother with a man other than her husband, but Arthur, that’s what she’d called him, was pure evil. I could see it when he looked at me. His words were too confident, his eyes too dark. When I asked her about him, she’d shrugged it off. I knew neither Charles nor my mother were faithful to each other, I’d seen their little playground, but the reality was a slap in the face.
I was twenty-four for fuck's sake. Not even my music could get my mind off the way my brother was wasting his life away, or my disfunctional family
Our family was a farce, and if it wasn’t for Gabriel I would be out of here. I reminded myself that it was just a matter of time. I was a music teacher at one of the most prestigious schools in NOLA. I’d fix this whole situation with my brother.
A light knock on my door, had me sitting up. “Come in.”
Olga entered, closing the door behind her. “Eduardo has settled Gabriel in bed, mija. I’ll try to talk to him later.” She looked wary as she sat in the chair opposite me.
“What do I do, Olga? He never listens. He does this all the time.”
She reached for my hand. “I have told you before, you are not responsible for him, mija. You have got to make a life for yourself.”
“I can’t leave him, not now. He’ll change, Olga.” I had no idea who I was trying to convince my housekeeper, or myself. Olga was so much more than a maid to us. Since we were toddlers, she and her husband, Eduardo, had been the parents we’d never had. Olga was the one I went to when I had my first period, the person I told about the boys I liked. She kept me sane and strong enough to deal with my brother, who was slowly slipping away from me.
“You rest now,” she squeezed my hand, standing and placing a kiss on my cheek.
I stood and looked out of the window. The clouds were darkening above me. A storm was coming in more ways than one.
