Chương 10
“No.”
Her mother looked offended.
“I can be invisible.”
“You arrived this morning in a green cardigan and declared war on someone’s face.”
“That was private.”
“I’m going alone.”
Neither woman liked it.
Sofía went anyway.
The café was busy enough to feel safe and quiet enough that she would not have to raise her voice.
She arrived first.
She chose a table near the front window where people passed constantly on the sidewalk.
Her stomach turned when Andrés entered.
He looked exhausted.
His beard had grown in unevenly.
He wore the same navy jacket he usually wore to job sites and carried his phone in both hands.
For one ridiculous second, Sofía noticed that he had forgotten to tuck in the tag at the back of his collar.
She used to fix things like that without thinking.
Her hand actually twitched before she stopped herself.
Andrés sat across from her.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
Neither ordered anything at first.
A waiter approached.
Andrés asked for coffee.
Sofía ordered tea.
The waiter left.
Andrés rubbed his palms against his jeans.
“How are you feeling?”
“Sore.”
“Did they say how long?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“I looked some things up.”
Sofía’s face tightened.
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Don’t tell me what you read online about miscarriage.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
A woman at the next table laughed at something on her phone.
Someone behind the counter dropped a spoon.
Andrés stared at the sugar packets between them.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
Sofía almost said, Neither do I.
She did not.
“Start with the truth.”
“I told the police the truth.”
Her chest tightened.
“No.”
“I told them what I remember.”
“You watched your father kick me.”
“It happened fast.”
“That doesn’t change what happened.”
“I’m not saying it does.”
“You told them you couldn’t be sure how contact happened.”
He flinched.
“Lucía told you?”
“She didn’t tell me everything.”
Andrés leaned back.
“You weren’t supposed to know my statement.”
“That’s what you’re worried about?”
“No.”
“It sounded like it.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I’m trying to explain.”
“Then explain.”
The coffee arrived.
Andrés thanked the waiter.
He waited until the man moved away.
“My dad moved toward you.”
“And kicked me.”
“I saw his leg move.”
Sofía stared.
“You saw his leg move.”
“Yes.”
“And then I fell.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re unsure what happened?”
“I’m saying I didn’t see every second clearly.”
She felt heat rise into her face.
“Were you afraid he would go to jail if you said it plainly?”
Andrés said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Sofía’s voice dropped.
“So you protected him.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You made the truth blurry.”
“That’s not the same.”
“It is when blur is useful.”
He looked toward the window.
“I don’t want my father in prison.”
There it was.
Not family harmony.
Not shock.
Not confusion.
A want.
Specific and clean.
Sofía let the silence sit between them.
Andrés picked up his coffee but did not drink it.
“I know what he did was wrong.”
“But.”
“No but.”
“There’s always a but.”
He set the cup down too hard.
Coffee trembled near the rim.
“He’s my father.”
“And I’m your wife.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
His jaw tightened.
“That’s not fair.”
Sofía almost laughed.
“You want fair?”
“I mean you’re making it like I chose him over you.”
“You did.”
“I came to the hospital.”
“After I told you I was there.”
“I called you.”
“To ask me to come back.”
“I didn’t know you were bleeding.”
“You knew he kicked me.”
Andrés looked away.
The waiter returned with Sofía’s tea.
She waited until he left.
Then she asked the question she had been avoiding.
“What did you do after I drove away?”
Andrés’s eyes returned to hers.
“What?”
“The video shows you outside with Iván and your father.”
He went still.
Sofía saw the exact moment he understood there was footage.
“I was trying to calm everybody down.”
“Why didn’t you follow me?”
“You left fast.”
“You have a car.”
“My keys were inside.”
“You could have taken a taxi.”
“I didn’t know where you went.”
“You could have called me.”
“I did.”
“Not immediately.”
He looked down again.
Sofía felt something inside her settle into grief rather than anger.
“What did your father say after I left?”
Andrés hesitated.
“That you were overreacting.”
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
“Andrés.”
He rubbed his thumb along the cardboard sleeve around his cup.
“He said you needed to learn respect.”
The café noise seemed to recede.
Sofía watched his thumb move.
“And what did you say?”
“I told him he went too far.”
“Those words?”
“Something like that.”
“Did he apologize?”
“No.”
“Did he seem scared?”
“Later.”
“After Iván called emergency dispatch?”
Andrés looked up sharply.
Sofía saw it.
Something had happened in those minutes.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That expression was not nothing.”
“He was angry at Iván.”
“For calling?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he thought Iván was panicking and making it bigger.”
Sofía leaned back.
“Did he tell Iván not to call?”
Andrés did not answer.
Her pulse quickened.
“Did he?”
“I don’t remember exactly.”
“There it is again.”
“Sofía.”
“The blur.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
“Yes what?”
“My dad told him to put the phone away.”
Sofía’s hands went cold.
“And you?”
“I told Iván we should figure out where you were first.”
“That’s not what Iván said.”
Andrés’s eyes opened.
“What did he say?”
“That you told him not to get involved.”
“He’s twisting it.”
“Why would he?”
“Because he feels guilty.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Andrés leaned forward.
“Do you know what this is doing to my family?”
Sofía looked at him for several seconds.
Then she laughed softly.
Not because anything was funny.
Because she had heard the sentence so many times in different forms that it had become almost absurd.
“Your family.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
May you like
“It’s exactly what you meant.”
He shook his head.
