CHRISTMAS CHEERS

“Yes he is,” she said and went mute.

“Is he interested in you?”

“Mum!”

“I’m just asking. He is here every day.. since you were brought in and he seems to genuinely care”

“Don’t they all think they have something to prove at the beginning…,” Linda said with a little attitude as her mother looked on.

“What do you mean by that?” Ms Dansu asked.

“Mum, he’s just a friend and I don’t want to talk about him with you”

“You’re either blind not seeing that this young man is interested in you, or you’re just uninterested. Which is it?”

“Mum!”

“Talk to me! I’m your mother” Ms Dansu said, “Haven’t you always said I’m your best friend?”

Linda looked at her, “Don’t throw those words at me. My jaws hurt”

“You haven’t said a lot about him. And I just don’t want to assume. You haven’t introduced anyone to be as your serious boyfriend” she paused and then said, “Or you don’t like men…, if that is the case, then…”

“Mum!” Linda said and chuckled, even though her head hurt a little. They sat in silence for a few minutes before she interrupted it again, “I’m attracted to men, and Mike is a great guy. Sometimes he seems perfect! He knows when to step forward and when to step back. I see his attention, I’m not stupid…”

“But…,” her mother chipped in, feeling it was coming.

Linda sat quietly for a while as tears glassed her eyes. Her mother watched in silence, “I think about dad and it makes me doubt everything” Lisa finally said. “They never stay. They all leave, eventually…,” tears started to run down her cheeks and Ms Dansu couldn’t hold back hers.

“That is not true,” she said choking on her words because her tears were rushing down, “that is not the truth”

“Then why did he leave us…?” Linda finally asked the question that had always tugged her heart but she had never voiced. Her father left them when she was eight years. He left with her mothers’ best friend and they never came back. But why? Why did he do that?