“Carmen?”

The lights came on in the kitchen, and Mercedes walked in with furrowed brows, hands clutched her rope tightly.

“Momma…”

“What are you doing here?”

“Erm… Looking for food?”

 “Sit down.” Mercedes commanded as she ordered Carmen to the dining chair. She knew Carmen was not ready to talk just yet, and she had no intentions of pressing her, not when she herself was cross-eyed with sleep. Mercedes started busying herself with pots and pans and started scurrying around in the kitchen.

“Mom… its fine. I can just grab something to eat from the fridge.”

“Nonsense. You need nutritious food.”

 Carmen knew that there was no point arguing with her mother, and so she sat at the table obediently waiting for her mother to finish cooking. After polishing off the congee that her mother prepared for her, Carmen opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn’t stifle a yawn from creeping through.

Mercedes picked her plate up and walked wordlessly to the sink.

“Momma… I…”

“Hush now. Go get some rest and we will talk in the morning.”

 —————————————————–

 A wail from the living room signaled that the kids had gotten into a fight yet again and Carla excused herself to tend to her kids.

Now alone with her mother, Carmen fought to bring the words out.

“Momma…” Carmen started as Mercedes waited patiently. “I…”

Just then, her cell phone rang. Carmen cursed under her breath until she realized the caller was Shane. She smiled apologetically at her mother before she took off to the patio and answered the phone.

“Hey.”

“Hi, Peach.” Shane’s low voice hummed with affection.

“How did you sleep?”

“You know I had the best sleep in a long while.”

“Oh.”

“I missed you.” Shane blushed. It wasn’t like Carmen had never made love to her before, but just thinking about last night, how Carmen made her feel so loved, so wanted… She couldn’t help but feel the heat rise to her cheeks.

“I missed you too.” Carmen said softly.

“Why didn’t you wake me? I could have driven you.”