So Different When so Alike #2
Shifting my gaze to my mother, our eyes met, hers glistening with sparkles. “Florence,” she smiled, “you look…perfect.”
“It seems my mother has an impeccable taste, that’s all.” I chewed on my lip, glancing in the mirror, truly admiring this piece of clothing that somehow meant much more than it was. I wouldn’t, of course, call it a peace treaty just yet, but possibly something ceasefire-like.
“Well,” my mother said with a subtle voice, “you are welcome then.” Casting her gaze towards Josephine, leaving me on my own with my reflection, she asked, “How does it sit on you? Do we need any adjustments?” My eyes unhurriedly travelled straight down from the neck to the hem of the dress, its drapes complimenting the curve of my figure, the soft silk fabric adding a touch of confidence I never knew I had.
***
“Mum?” Quickly checking the rear-view mirror, Josephine took the turn left. “You always said father was the love of your life. Have you undoubtedly known that since the day you met?”
“God, no!” she laughed. “I could not stand the man from day one.”
“What?” I chuckled from the back seat.
“Yes! Poor Dominic had to really work hard to win me over.”
“So, wait, you didn’t like him even a little?” I leaned forward, gripping the edges of the front seats.
“Well,” she drawled, “he, of course, was very attractive, but let’s just say that we didn’t have quite a good start.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Yeah? How come you never told us the whole story?” Josephine shot at her.
“It’s because I was always going to marry his best friend, Henry Spencer.”
“Huh? What a scandal!” I muttered, both eyebrows raised impossibly high.
“Henry Spencer?” Jo playfully repeated the name. “Wow, Mum, you are full of surprises.”
“Stop it, girls—” A blush crept up her cheeks. “—or I won’t tell you a single word.”
“Okay! Okay!” I mumbled.
“Well, Henry and I were always a good match. At a young age we both understood our roles and what was expected of us. Love was never an option, well, at least for me,” she said with a subtle expression on her face, making me wonder how she really felt back then.
“Henry was older, and so when he went to college we kept in touch, writing each other letters. I would tell him all about, you know, the same things that were to be expected at home, and then he would write about his student experience, professors, and new friends, mentioning Dominic from time to time. And then it was a summer vacation,” she said with a faint smile on her face.
“Your father came to visit Henry, who was very excited for the two of us to finally meet. At first Dominic seemed extremely cold; he’d barely even spoken to me.
I found this strange behaviour highly inappropriate and, frankly speaking, unacceptable. ”
“Wait, so what was his deal? I mean, our father’s?” I frowned, confused.
“Well, that’s what I was going to find out.
” Rolling her eyes, she breathed in deeply.
“One August night we were having quite a party at the beach, a lot of alcohol, plenty of people, and even more questionable decisions. I don’t remember where Henry was but as I got pretty drunk, I thought it would be fun to go for a swim. ”
“Are we talking skinny dipping?” The words tumbled from my tongue.
“It might have been if Dominic wouldn’t have stopped me.”
“Well, look at you, Elizabeth Grant.” Jo shook her head, a wide grin playing on her lips.
“So, what exactly happened?” I asked.
“Right,” she sighed. “Apparently, when I headed closer to the shore, all that time he kept an eye on me. And there I was, letting my guard down just that one time, tormented by the lack of love in the relationship with the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. The bottle of beer in my hand felt like sorrow I was drinking away. As I slowly walked against the waves of the night’s shallow sea, a voice startled me from behind.
You know, ordering me around was never a wise choice, and so I obviously didn’t listen.
Who the hell was he thinking he was? Right?
” she laughed, her eyes gleaming with the memory of that summer night.
“He’d tell me Henry would worry about me and that I should listen to him and immediately get back, but who even knew where Henry was then?
The only way he could get me out of that sea was to get me out of it himself, and that’s what he did.
I yelled at him to put me down, and when he did, we started arguing about how he treated me from day one.
I was convinced he hated me. God, at one point, I even suggested that he go and peacefully stab himself in the heart. ”
“You what?!” I snorted out a giggle.
“Well, he too didn’t hold back,” she quickly said, defensively. “He said that was all he could think about every time he was in the same room with me.”
“Our dad said that?” I suddenly chortled.
“Stop interrupting her.” My sister cast a warning glance at me.
“Okay! Okay!” I muttered, beaming with amusement.
“Well, um, anyway.” My mother cleared her throat.
“As we were bickering back and forth, somehow we very soon found ourselves standing too close to each other. And once realising that, we both fell quiet. His eyes were locked on me, my eyes were locked on him. Like magnets, we were unable to resist the lingering sensation in our bodies, and only then I realised that was a completely new feeling for me. The moment his gaze fell on my lips, I swear, both of my legs went immediately limp. Both fools, so desperately pretending to hate each other, were madly in love.”
A breath hitched in my throat as my jaw dropped wide open.
A warmth coated my heart, knowing that in the end my mother married for love.
This very moment I felt like hugging her but, since that was an uncommon thing for us to do, I simply squeezed the leather fabric of her seat tighter. That would do!
“Did you?” Josephine raised an eyebrow in a silent question. “Did you kiss?”
“We very much wanted to,” my mother laughed. “God, I remember it like it was just yesterday… Dominic stared at me, and then he whispered, ‘Don’t marry him.’”
“Oh, my!” I mouthed.
“He knew that I didn’t love Henry, and it seemed Henry’s heart too belonged to someone else.
And boy, were your grandparents devastated when we broke off the engagement?
You should have seen that!” She winced at the memory, reminiscing in her head.
“Your father’s family might have had a little less money, but they still had enough.
The problem was me, going against them…”
How was it even possible that my mother and I, indeed, had a lot in common, but at times it felt like we both communicated in two completely different languages.
Why didn’t she understand me? Because everything she just told me…
why were we so different when we were so alike?
My mind was racing with hundreds of questions, wondering where we took the wrong turn and whether there was a way back from that diversion…
***
After we got back home, Josephine tried to convince me we should head to the beach, although it didn’t really take much convincing.
All she had to say was, “Come on, Lore, your ass just looks too good in those black bikinis. It’s a crime to hide it behind the closed bedroom door.
” And so the sweet talk definitely worked.
“That’s a lot of people,” I mumbled, unfurling the blanket. The beach seemed livelier than ever.
“Did you take the SPF with you?” Jo reached for my bag. “Oh, I see you got one of my books.”
“Yeah,” I smirked. “Juicy.”
Josephine laughed. “God! That scene…with the couch…”
“I know!”
“But when Jamie almost kissed her…” Jo dramatically rolled her head back, her palm pressed tightly against her temple.
“Wait! No! No! No!” My hands flew up, quickly covering my ears. “No spoilers! No spoilers! I haven’t finished it yet.”
“Oh! Right! Sorry!” She chewed on her lips. “Let me know when you’re done. We shall discuss.” Fishing the sunscreen out of my bag, Josephine nestled on the blanket, the tropical fruit scent instantly filled the air around us. “Mmm, smells nice.”
Quickly checking the group chat with my work friends, Alex and Hetal, I discovered that nothing much had changed since the day I left for home, but the cute selfie with the stethoscope they sent me wreathed my face with a smile.
Then I reminded myself to message my neighbour and check in on my cactus—the one he got me because he believed I needed a living organism in my apartment.
Suddenly, I missed it all: not my work, but the city’s hum coming from under my windows, those nights curled up with ‘Fleabag’ when I needed a good, dark laugh, and the occasional nights out where you could eat greasy food with your hands instead of a fork and be normal. Like other people.
“Lore?” My sister pulled me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“Is everything okay with you?”
“Yeah.” I glanced at Jo. “Why?”
“I don’t know, it’s just yesterday you seemed a little…distraught?”
“Huh? Did I?” Possibly that was my cue to fess up to what was really going on, but no words seemed willing to come out of my mouth.
“Is it Miles?” she suddenly asked with a frown.
“Why would you assume it’s Miles?”
“You two hadn’t exchanged a word during dessert, so I thought it must have been that.”
“Nah,” I muttered. “We are fine.”
“Hmm, okay. Just making sure.”
Basking in the sun, I rolled over, my elbows digging into the striped blanket.
Sunglasses on, I cast my gaze elsewhere, thinking that soon I would go home to my normal life.
Who knew when I’d be back here again? Now that Jo and Mark were going to live in their new house after the wedding, I could supposedly visit my sister more often.
After all, it wasn’t the distance that kept me away.
Suddenly, my phone rang. “It’s Mark,” I said, glancing at the screen.
“Oh, I think I left mine at home,” Jo muttered, patting her empty pockets.