"God, this is so terrible."
"Yeah, I know right. It was-." Her voice drifted to a distant sound. She probably took her mouth away from the reciever to respond to someone in the background. My head kept reeling as I waited for her to come back. How could I had forgotten about the swearing-in ceremony? I narrowed my eyes, someone must had jinxed me. "I'm sorry about that, just Gina disturbing the life out of my soul." I nodded in understanding, Gina was as annoying as annoying could get. I avoided her like I avoided sneaky links. "Okay, so where was I? Yeah, you would be in so much trouble when you resume. That is, if you still have a job by then."
I glared at the bare wall in my sitting room. "Don't joke about stuffs like that. It's not even remotely funny."
Her scoff pierced the static air. "You're so uptight, Dee. I'm just trying to lighten the mood."
"Congratulations. You successfully darkened it, Nyx."
A pause. "Debbie, did you just call me Nyx? As in Nyx, the goddess of darkness?"
"Oh wow, another Greek mythology scholar." I said drily and she laughed at my sarcastic retort. Madison always claimed I had the driest humor ever but I'd say otherwise. Yes, I usually said everything with a straight face but then, I didn't think I was actually funny. In my opinion, Nelly was the queen of dry humor. Maybe I was just picking up little traits from her.
I counted a few seconds before Madison finally stopped laughing. "But why didn't you come though? I'm very sure I even overheard some rumors that you were laying in your deathbed."
My right brow raised by a quarter inch. "What?"
A small chuckle floated into my ear. "Yeah. Everybody knows how fanatic you are about work. So when you didn't show up for the most anticipated event in WeCare Inc, I mean this stuff has been talked about since last year, surely tongues would wag. One said you were shot in a robbery attack. Some people said you fell in the bathtub and fell into a coma. Another said you were caught in a jealous woman's bed with her husband and she bashed your head against the headboard. I won't even lie, that last one was really colorful."
My loud laughter made me choke on my saliva and I coughed a couple times before I could talk. "Let me guess, Gina was responsible for the last one?"
"You know Georgina would always have the most atrocious version."
I shook my head and laughed a little more. "Well, that was a very interesting plot. I'm a little impressed with her imagination."
The door of Mikayla's room banged shut and she strolled to the living room. Madison's voice drew my attention away from my pyjamas clad daughter. "I know right. So what was the real reason you didn't come? Cos the amount of rumors I heard is so terrifying. My brain will definitely go numb if I listen to another fake tale."
Kayla tugged my hand to gain my attention again and pointed to the kitchen. I stared at the kitchen door for a few seconds before realization dawned on me. She wanted to eat dinner. I nodded quickly and put up my index finger to let her know I'd do that in a minute. Indistinct squawks reminded me that Madison was still waiting for my answer. "Uhmm, I took a sick leave. An impromptu one though."
"Amber said something like that too when I asked but I didn't believe her. I don't think you're sick."
An unimpressed huff fell out of my lips as I walked to the kitchen, Kayla in tow. "I had no idea you doubled as a doctor. Being a psychotherapist is already hard work, I can't imagine the stress you go through since you decided to also be a medical doctor. Must be really horrible."
I rolled my eyes when she guffawed. For such a petite lady, her laugh was very monstrous. "Debbie, there's no need for the sarcasm. I just know you can't be sick."
"Why? Do I look like Apollo?"
She paused for a moment before responding. "What are you saying? Apollo is the god of agriculture."
I scoffed at her words. Of course, she'd say that. "I retract my previous statement. You are no scholar of Greek mythology."
"What do you mean? Apollo is the god of agriculture, I'm very sure of that."
I opened the kitchen cabinets and frowned in deep thought. What was I going to cook for Kayla? "You can always read it up on Google. I'm not in the mood to lecture anybody."
"I just know you're not sick. At least, that's not the reason you didn't come today."
"What do you mean?"
I took the plantains I saw in the cabinet and placed them on the island. That was a good start, Mikayla liked plantains. "You come to work even you're ill, Dee. Remember the Thanksgiving episode? The day you were burning up and you were sneezing to the point you even couldn't attend to any client? Even after Amber told you to go home, you stayed behind to study your clients' files. That was the day you earned my respect for real. So the only way sickness would make you not come to work was if you were on life support and that's clearly not the case. You won't be on the phone with me if it were."
I chuckled softly as I reminisced on that day. I had woken up with a banging head, runny nose and a body temperature that could roast beef. Despite Nelly's pleas, I had insisted on going to work and that prompted the lady to prepare a flask of tomato basil soup for me to take to work. She had claimed that the soup would make me better in no time. The moment I opened the flask of death in my office, I finally understood why she never cooked and always ordered take-ins. She was a bad cook. A terrible one actually. Although my taste buds were fairly numb at the moment, the horrible taste of her soup awakened them and I damn near threw up. The roasted chickpeas she had put inside it tasted like gravel and after my eighth spoon, I gave up. Nelly's food was going to kill me before the flu would. I remembered warning her to never cook for Kayla immediately I got home that day.
"Madison, I have nothing else to say to you tonight. I'm exhausted. Goodnight." Her loud laughter was the last thing I heard before ending the call. Damn, talking to Madison was tiring. I shook my head in humor as I thought of her, she was one of the few people I could tolerate at work.
"Mama, I'm hungry." Mikayla's whiny complaint drew me back to reality.
"I know, bebe. I'm sorry about that. I can make plátanos frito for us real quick, would you want that?" She thought for a few seconds before nodding. "Or would you like something else? I think aunt Lee left some chorizo in the fridge, we could use that. Fried plantain bake with chorizo, it won't take so long either."
"Yes." She beamed and I chuckled.
"To which one? Plátanos frito or the bake with chorizo?"
She pointed at the pork sausage I had just placed on the table. "Bake with chorizo, mama."
She watched with unadulterated curiosity as I sliced the plantains and chorizo, then shrieked and ran away for a few seconds when I put the plantains in the hot oil. I used to have that reaction when I was younger, except mine was more rational since I'd once gotten splashed with hot oil. Mikayla drew closer when I was buttering up the baking tray and insisted I put more muscovado sugar than I had intended in between the layers of plantain, chorizo and feta cheese. After putting the tray in the oven, I insisted she had to help clean the kitchen if she wanted to eat. Nelly's slobby ways were definitely rubbing off on Kayla and I chuckled as she grumbled while cleaning the tabletop with a wet rag.
"Ohhhhhhh, it's so sticky mama. There's so much melted cheese in it. I love it." A wide-eyed Kayla stared at the piping hot meal in her plate with an awestruck expression. Her apparent joy made my insides dance with ecstasy, I could literally get drunk on it. Whenever Kayla looked that way because of me, it always filled me with the same emotion I felt the first time I smoked weed. That feeling of euphoria was unmatched.
"Oh, yeah?" She giggled animatedly when I winked at her.
"Mhmmm. I love melted cheese." She stabbed the food with a fork and munched noisily. "Mama, the taste is amazing."
I took a bite as well and nodded in affirmation. It really was amazing. Kayla had made me put extra muscovado sugar, it had to be sweet. "Yeah, it tastes good."
We ate in a comfortable silence and I kept stealing glances at Mikayla. She was so carefree and interactive, I'd do anything to make sure she stayed that way.
"Mama?" I blinked once to let her know I was all ears. "Why can't you keep saying at home like you did today? I love aunt Lee but I prefer staying with you. First off, aunt Lee can't cook at all. She can't even make pancakes." The thought of her legendary tomato basil soup came to mind and I physically cringed. "We always be ordering Chipotle, Chick-fil-A and Chinese. Sometimes pizza too. I like them but I love your food. They taste even better than Nana's."
I almost swooned at the last comment. Sara Rodriguez was an awesome cook, a professional one actually. Dulce y Picante was a chain restaurant owned by her and that was why I assumed Mikayla had enjoyed her cake gift. I was pretty sure my daughter was going overboard with that particular compliment but that didn't dim the pleasure I felt because of it.
"For real? Thanks a lot, baby." I cooed.
She brushed off my gratitude with a brusque nod. "Why can't you always be around? Like you were today?"
My fork slipped off my fingers and clattered noisily on the plate. Why did the question throw me off guard? Nelly always made sure to ask me that exact question everytime I came home late and that was every single night from Monday to Sunday. I took a deep breath and stretched my hand across the table to hold hers. "Baby, I'd love to stay here with you everytime but mummy has to work. That's why I can't be here everytime and aunt Lee has to look after you."
"But Shirley's mom works too but she still takes Shirley to the park every week. Same with Brandon. And Nicole too. Even Peter. Mama, pretty much everyone. Everyone except me." Her voice cracked at the last word and she withdrew her hand from mine. Before I could say a word, she fled from the kitchen and the bang of her room door echoed in my overcrowded head.
As if on cue, my phone rang and I sighed as I saw the caller. Sara. "Hola, mamá."
A few seconds passed before her authoritative voice streamed from the speaker. "Hola, Deborah. ¿Cómo estás?" She was one of the very few people that called me Deborah. People usually called me Debbie or Dee.
"Estoy bien, ¿y tú?"
She coughed twice before responding. "Bien. Mikayla? How's she?"
That was the only reason Sara would call. Although we had managed to settle our differences after I got married to Diego, we didn't quite ever become cordial. We just maintained a polite relationship and I was more than content with that. "Ella está bien también."
"Are you sure she's okay? Cos I've been calling your friend that babysits her. Mon Dieu, what's her name again? Oh yes, Nelly. I've been trying to call her phone for about an hour or two and it's switched off. Para ser honesta, I'm a little worried."
Sara had a habit of talking to Mikayla before her bedtime. Since I was hardly ever home by that time, she just called Nelly to talk to her granddaughter. "Uhmm, she isn't with Nelly today."
"Oh, really? I had no idea. Who's she with?"
"Me. I didn't go to work today."
She coughed once but it sounded like a cover for a gasp. I wasn't even surprised that she was surprised. "¿Por qué?"
I rolled my eyes at the predictability, of course she'd ask why. "Uhmm, I wanted to stay with her today."
"Deborah."
"¿Qué?"
It seemed like she was thinking against her intended speech because there was an awkward pause before she responded. "Oh, está bien. So can I talk to Mikayla now?"
Kayla was probably bawling her eyes out in her room at the moment. "Uhmm, she's sleeping right now. I can wake her up for you though if you want."
"Oh no, please don't do that." Just like I thought. "I'll just see her tomorrow when she comes to church with Nelly."
I was going to take Kayla to church myself but I decided against telling that to Sara. There was no need for her to know that. "Of course, you will."
"Alright then." An awkward pause. "Deborah, I know we haven't uhh- had the most ideal relationship but I want you to know that I genuinely love you. Like a daughter I never had." She paused for a few seconds and the words sank in. "You're also a very hardworking woman and I can understand how hard it is to juggle work and motherhood. And you're even a single mother, siento pena por ti a veces. If you ever need anything Deborah, anything at all, please just let me know. I'd be more than happy to help."
"Yeah, I'd do just that."
She let out a deep breath and I could hear the doubt. She knew I was only lying. "Bueno, that'll be all then. Have a good night rest, querida."
I decided to not dwell on the term of endearment she used. "Buenas noches, mamá."