Page 27 of Doormat
“Maybe you tell me what it is you like and I start to learn who you are?”
“Diego—”
“Liana,” he interrupted her, but then he didn’t quite know what to say as the words just weren’t there.“Tell me who you are.Tell me what you like.It’s the only way I am going to get to know you.”
She pressed her lips together, then nibbled at the corner.“What would you like to know?”
“Just tell me about you,” he said.“No bullshit either.Just talk to me.”
“Okay, I love the color blue, and I love going for walks in a garden.I like watching it fade away but come back brighter than ever in the spring.I love holidays and any excuse to celebrate.I also happen to love cooking and baking for the occasion.”She stopped to take a bite of her food.“I want a big family.I want to have dozens of kids, and to never know a moments’ quiet.”
He looked at her.
“You know, that part is the worst.The quiet when you lose someone.That hurts the most.You can almost hear their voice, and your whole day has gone as normal, but then it changes, and before you know it, reality sets in and when you expect her to come in, she doesn’t.”
Diego reached out and took hold of her hand.“It’s okay.”
“You know, I never told anyone how I felt when it came to losing my mom,” she said.“Not my dad, I knew he was already hurting.I didn’t talk to my brother.We were already feeling that grief.It didn’t matter where I went at home, it was still empty without her.”
“You got through it.”
“You’ve got no choice but to get through it.Life goes on.You have to go to school.You have to try and make your dad proud, and you need to also make her proud.I know my mom would want me to do the best I can at everything.It was all she ever asked for.”
“I wish I had gotten the chance to know her.”
“I wish you had as well.She probably would have told me to kick your ass for calling me a doormat,” she said.
He looked at her.“I am sorry about that.”
She waved her hand in the air.“Don’t worry about it.Come on, eat your food.”
On the one hand, he regretted calling her a doormat, at the same time, he couldn’t regret it, because it had made her break out of her shell, and he got the chance to meet the real Liana.
Chapter Eight
Three Weeks Later
