Page 143 of Lau Ahi
“They’re thorough.”
My head tilted as her words rang out loudly in the crowded restaurant. “An odd choice of words.”
Faith looked confused as to what I meant and she sat her glass down on the table. “I’m sorry?”
“You saidtheyinstead of we. From what I understood, you were the linchpin in all of this. Why are you speaking about yourself as though you’re powerless?
“Because I am now. My seat is now Pappy’s.”
“I absolutely refuse to believe that’s true. I’ve met the man albeit briefly, I’m sure he would give you the in if you wanted it.” Sitting here with Faith I didn’t get the same feeling with her that I got from my mother. I knew when women were full of shit and that wasn’t Faith. She felt… troubled but not in the way I’d assumed.
“How do you think that?”
“Because you gave birth to the head of the family.”
She laughed as though I wasn’t aware of their fracture before she turned serious. “My son despises me.”
“I think more accurately your son only knows the child version of events and you probably need to fill him in on the reality. At least the reality from your standpoint.”
She flinched and I didn’t soften the tone of my voice because there was no negativity attached to it. “That sounded like a dig.”
I let my fingers play along the rim of my flute as I shook my head. “No, it sounds like the truth. Humans have a natural affinity to exaggerate or to make themselves less culpable of harm they’ve caused. It takes someone truly detached from their emotions to be an accurate reporter of history. Everything has a slant. An angle. A motive. Yours is that you love your son. I’ve never experienced that type of maternal love myself but I’ve seen how mothers should care for their children. You still have that despite the fact that you haven’t been around for a few decades. That alone leads me to believe that you’re not a monster.”
“I see what their angle was now with you.” She wagged her finger her face once again free of tension as she nodded in silent agreement.
“Pardon?”
“You’re smart. And not normal smart. You’re probably somewhere near the genius level of intelligence if I’m not mistaken.” She sat back in the smooth, deep emerald velvet of the booth and waited for my confirmation.
I suppressed a smile but there wasn’t a need to answer her. There was no way to do so without sounding arrogant. “That could be true but no one would really know that.”
“They go over everything with a fine-tooth comb, Asha. They don’t allow weakness into the family.”
“You seemed like you had a story you were ready to tell. Is that still something you wanted to do or are we stopping with a drink?” It was my turn to sit back and get comfortable because I was ready to hear whatever this story was.
“I have a bottle of champagne, free time and good company. I think it’s time to have this conversation with someone. Maybe after I speak with you I’ll have the nerve to talk to him.” She took a deep drink of her champagne likely shoring up her courage and I felt like we were getting somewhere.
“You reached out to him he said. So it’s not as though you haven’t been around.” I’d wondered what had been the impetus for her to reach out now. Was it because we were going to be married and she felt that it was her way in?
“Around, but not active.” Her response was slightly guarded and I pressed her to elaborate.
“Now I’m intrigued.”
“Are you ladies ready to order?”
I’d been here often enough to know several of the things I wanted to order off the menu. TheSunbirdwas a beautiful restaurant that took its name from the collared sunbird, which was in most of sub-Saharan Africa. The colors of the restaurant, the vibrant chartreuse, deep teal and emerald, were also taken from the coloring of the animal. It wasn’t like a lot of other places in DC that were only for show and ambience. They served actual food and the service was always immaculate, in addition to having a beautiful space with a great location.
“What do you recommend?”
“Are you someone who eats or do you exist in the realm of food in fuel?”
She grinned at my question immediately making me relax. “I didn’t come here for a salad.”
Thankful to hear it I posed another question, hoping she’d agree. “Do you mind if I order for the table?”
She closed her menu and shook her head. “By all means.”
“To start could we get the Lobster scampi Mac and cheese, the marinated beef skewers, an order of calamari and the house salad to split, please?” The server added everything onto her tablet nodding her head and repeating it out loud before she gathered one of our menus and walked away.
