I throw my head back, closing my eyes, willing myself to let it all go. My shoulders feel tight, and I squeeze them to ease some of the tension. “Wow. Thanks for the support, Mom. Why can’t you just be happy for me for once?”
She taps her bottom lip then stares at me, finally meeting my gaze. “Because you’re reckless, Eliana, and you’re embarrassing your father.”
“Embarrassing him?” I run my hands down my face in exasperation. “You heard me,” she says as she takes a seat in an armchair, her spine as straight as a needle. “I never thought a child of mine would bring such shame to the Hernandez name.”
I let out a laugh. “Can we be done with the melodrama already? I’m busy.”
“It’s a good thing your father hired a bodyguard for you,” she admires her salmon colored nail polish as she drops this bomb on me.
I frown. “You’re kidding right?”
“You didn’t think we’d let you go to LA on your own, did you? Who knows what trouble you’ll get yourself into.”
“Unbelievable,” my hands are trembling.
“It’s for your own good, Eliana.” My mother stands and leaves the room, a self-satisfied look on her face.
I sit on the edge of the bed, my head bowed. I have always believed that somewhere deep inside, that woman cared, that she was glad I didn’t end up like her, a miserable person in a loveless marriage. But it was time for me to stop fooling myself. My mother is what she is, and nothing will ever change that. She has always been under my father’s thumb and that is where she will remain.
