Wrong Part I
Thisbe looked at the bar cart and then back to January, “how about a glass of wine?”
“God yes.” January agreed and watched as Thisbe moved to the cart and poured two very deep glasses of red wine. She looked in the direction of the room where her daughter was, “let that breathe for me for a minute. I’m going to go get her in the tub.”
“Gulliver can,” Thisbe started.
“She was adamant not to let him see her butt in a photo album. She’s at an age where she’s aware of her body. She is not going to be comfortable with him seeing her get into the tub.”
“He’s her dad.”
“He’s still a stranger, Thisbe.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“His.”
Thisbe opened her mouth and then closed it, “you really do blame him?”
“Like you, there was plenty of time to tell me the trut He12:30 chose not to. I had a man in my ear telling me how dangerous.
Wrong Part I
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Gulliver was and all I knew was that you called him vovoi, he lied to me about everything, and I believed my daughter was in danger. I am still not convinced he’s not going to put us all at risk with his presence.”
“You weren’t keeping her safe either, January. She was being threatened at school!”
“Because of him!” January snapped back feeling furious with Thisbe. “I get he’s your big brother and you think he’s the bloody messiah but to me, he is a lying, cheating mobster who brought this insanity to my door! I didn’t bring it to him. All of this shit, is because he lied. Stop trying to paint him as a martyr and me as the bad guy when I was the fucking victim!” she was yelling now at Thisbe who was wide–eyed with a trembling bottom lip.
“Enough!”
The quiet command from the doorway of the bedroom made the two women freeze.
“Thisbe, I think it’s time for you to go.”
“We were going to have a glass of wine!” Thisbe protested as she held two glasses up. “January was just going to give Kaylee her bath, and we were going to share a glass of wine.”
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12:30
January looked at the woman as if she were short a few screws
Wrong Part I
in her head.
&
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Gulliver shot January an angry look, “Kaylee is in the bathroom waiting for you to come and bathe her. The concierge service just texted, and they are on their way upstairs with the things you’ll need for the sleepover. It is a good thing the child is in the other room and did not hear the shit coming from your mouth.”
“Shit or truth?” January shot back as she shoved past Thisbe to move towards her daughter.
“Your truth isn’t necessarily the actual truth.” Gulliver grabbed her arm. “I do not want you in there telling her bullshit.”
“You mean telling her that her father lied to me about being part of a mafia, being my husband or being a decent human. being? Yeah, I won’t tell her but don’t get in my face about it being a lie, Gulliver because we both know, I’m not the liar in the room. I’m pretty sure that title belongs to either of the Raptis members.” She removed his fingers from her bicep, “and for the record, if Thisbe would fuck off with trying to pin the blame on me for the fact our daughter grew up the last six years without her father, then maybe I wouldn’t be in a constant state of wanting to punch her in the fucking throat and get into screaming matches.” She looked at the woman over the shoulder, “I’m not having the glass of wine with you. I’d rather chew the glass it is in than to try to place nice with 376 your right now.”
12:30
Wrong Part I
“You said “Thisbe protested.
–
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“Yeah, I did but then you shot your mouth off.” She marched off in the direction of the bathroom and found Kaylee in a shower cap beaming excitedly. “Oh wow! Very stylish, Kaylee.”
“My dad said girls wear these to keep their hair dry in the shower!”
“They do but not when you need to get your hair washed.”
“Aw man, I don’t want my hair washed.”
“Well, it needs to be washed. However, I bet if you want, you can take the shower cap home with you tomorrow and the next time you shower where you don’t need to wash your hair, you
can use it.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Mom, why do you look angry?” Kaylee asked tilting her head to one side. “Your face is all red.”
“Because I was arguing with Thisbe.”
About what?”
“A”
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Wrong Part I
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“A difference of opinion, Kaylee. Thisbe and I used to be friends a long time ago and we are still angry with one another. It will take a long time before we get over things and being shoved into the same place, tight quarters as you will, and feeling the way we, both do, we’re going to argue.”
“Why can’t you just say sorry?”
“Because I’m not wrong,” January grunted as she grabbed the bottle of bubble bath and dumped a hefty dose of it into the water she turned on for Kaylee’s bath.
Kaylee was quiet as if January helped her get undressed and into the bathtub. She grabbed a washcloth off the rack in the bathroom and then grabbed a towel and plunked down on the closed toilet seat to watch her daughter play in the bubbles.
“Mom?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it better to be friends or to be right?”
January looked at Kaylee. “What?”
“Remember when I was mad at Darwin for singing the Christmas song wrong and he said I was wrong and we got into a fight? You asked me if it was better to be friends or be right
12:30
Wrong Part I
13
because I didn’t want to say sorry because I wasn’t wrong.”
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January felt her nostrils flaring as her own words of wisdom. for her child who was only six at the time and somehow. managed to remember the damn lesson.
“Maybe if you want to be friends again, it doesn’t matter who is
wrong.”
January suddenly wished she was holding the glass of wine.
