Page 45 of Eat Your Heart Out
If we hadn’t left when we had, we would have been in danger of hitting the worst of the storm, which had been more minor at the time. I shrugged. “Maman, it’s not that bad. We didn’t go through the eye or anywhere near the main storm.”
She sighed. “Bands are bad enough.”
My shoulder brushed against Ali’s as I asked Maman, “Not really, but what do you think I should buy Ali?”
Ali gazed at the sheet.
Maman paused. “The volcanic rock known as Azorean gold would be nice around her neck.”
Ali covered her face.
I nodded. “Consider it done.”
“I don’t need jewelry,” Ali said. “I don’t want gifts.”
That was another reason we needed to get her one.
“I almost said a diamond ring, but I don’t want to be pushy,” Maman said.
I laughed. Not once had she ever suggested that with my ex, though she had always harped on the older brothers to get married. I ignored the thought. “We can see blue skies now.”
“Good,” Maman said. “Don’t put yourself or Ali in danger again.”
I hadn’t, but she sounded just like Ali. “We have to go.”
We all said goodbye, and after hanging up, I plugged my phone back in for full battery later.
Ali swallowed. “Your family seriously loves you.”
I vividly recalled my grandmother we calledmamanjoonsing that being grateful was how blessings were given. “They gave me everything.”
Ali smiled and made the day even better as she said, “Clearly, you were born under a lucky star. Who’s Clarissa?”
Luck wasn’t something I believed in, though I focused on the question instead of arguing about stars. “She was the housekeeper and chauffeur’s daughter. For a few years, she was the only woman any of us knew, and we all flirted with her.”
She narrowed her gaze. “So why does she hate Elon?”
My head rested on the wall behind us, and I smiled. “She liked him best, I think, but he told her to go with Kir to a middle school dance.”
Ali stared blankly. “Why?”
For years, Elon and I had been closest, though Warren was right between us in age. Unlike us, though, Warren was always moralizing, so bonding with Elon was easier. I only said, “Elon, like me, is adopted. He struggled more with wondering why he got adopted, though I never understood why.”
She sat up and gazed out the window like she needed to see the weather. Her naked back caught my attention, and I wanted more. She had no idea how easily she turned me on.
“How old was he when he was adopted?” she asked, sitting back.
Maybe that was another reason we were close. We were raised in the same nursery. “An infant like I was. But unlike me, his birth mother voluntarily handed her baby over to Maman.”
“Well, Roxanne seriously is amazing. Family means taking care of your children and having a huge heart, which she does.”
“She is amazing.” I smiled.
Maman was the only person in the world I wanted as my mother, and Ali had summed up one reason perfectly.
Ali curled her legs higher. “So, did Clarissa go with Kir?”
“No.” I hadn’t talked about the past in a long time. Memories of being a Norouzi rushed into my head. “She stopped talking to any of us, and when she was eighteen, she took off and never visited.”
