Longing, Cathy Wilson [best summer reads of all time .TXT] 📗

She should have expected it, since she herself had been given away as a baby: to a cousin who had no children. It was the Polynesian way. Instead of ten children, though, she had only the two, and she’d sent her only son—to her barren sister.

Now he visits, a lanky twenty-five, draped on the couch.

“Bring me a beer, Mom.”

“I’m not your mom; I’m your aunty.”

“Nah, I know you’re my real mom. Fritos, too.”

Just a week, she reflects, and he’ll be on the plane, back to Auckland, and she’ll sweep under the couch, thinking, thinking.
 


Second son, and what about the first, complete with bossy wife, twin sons, and one on the way?

What could he do to top that?

No.

He mixes a gin and tonic, twists some wax into his dreadlocks, fiddles with the audio, and stretches his toes inside his slippers.

His roommates, two girls, grin at him, walking from the bathroom in their panties and bras. He barely glances.

Thirty-sixth birthday.

Next year, he thinks, when his latest album tops out.

And he moves out.

California, or maybe Baja.

His cell buzzes but he ignores it, closes his eyes.

No.

No.


 
It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Daniel knows how to cook dinner, and he always eats out for lunch. Now that the kids are gone, nobody needs her.

She could always come back.

Nobody in her neighborhood has done it, but she’s heard of women who did.

She’s saved the money. It won’t hurt their budget. As if the budget even would matter, if she did go.

She knows where: tiny beach motel. Fake name.

Bare feet. Watercolors. A stack of novels. Coffee nearby.

She folds the dishtowel.

Fastens the suitcase.

Locks the door.

Goes.

Publication Date: 07-09-2012

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