Page 155 of Tell Me What You Want, Or Leave Me

It’s time for dinner, and Eric isn’t back yet.

“Simona, we’ll take everything to the table between all of us,” I tell her. “But I want you seated next to Norbert, understood?”

She pretends she didn’t hear me.

“I’m warning you: either you sit at the table and have dinner with everyone, or no one is having dinner.”

“Oh, Simona,” teases Marta, “please don’t make us go without dinner.”

“No chance of that,” says Sonia. “Simona and Norbert will join everyone for dinner.”

“My daughter is very stubborn,” my father tells Simona as we carry the trays from the kitchen.

Simona winks at me.

“Yes, Manuel, I’m starting to know her.” When she sees me wrinkling my nose at the coleslaw, she takes the tray from me. “I’ll take this to the table. The farther away from you, the better.”

“Thanks, Simona.”

“Sit down, honey,” says my father. “I’m done organizing the shrimp tray.”

I do as he says. Today’s not my best day. He sits next to me and gently moves the hair from my face.

“Why don’t you go to bed, my love?”

I snort and roll my eyes.

“No, Papá. It’s New Year’s Eve, and I want to be with you.”

“But, sweetheart, your face is telling us how drained you are. You feel terrible, don’t you?”

I nod. It’s my worst day by far.

“I think seeing and smelling all this food is not going to be good for you.”

I look at the rich prawns, the sautéed marinade, the roast lamb, and the ham my father brought from Spain, all of it prepared with such love.

“Oh, Papá, but I love your sautéed marinade, roast lamb the way you make it, the prawns. I think eating all that would give me a sweet exhaustion.”

He kisses me on the cheek. “You’re like your mother even that way. She was also very disgusted by the marinade during her pregnancies. Of course, when it passed, she ate everything in sight.”

The kitchen door opens, and Eric comes in.

“Sweetheart, why aren’t you in bed?” he asks when he sees me with my father.

“That’s what I’m saying, Eric, but you know how she is. Stubborn!”

I ignore them.

“Where have you been?” I ask Eric.

“I got an urgent call and had to deal with it.”

“Cuchu, look who’s here!” shouts my sister.

When I see Juan Alberto with little Lucía in his arms, I look at Eric and smile. That was the urgent matter!

Juan Alberto greets my father, who shakes his hand with a manly grip. Then he turns to me and gives me two kisses.

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