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I pressed the lock button on my fob and fumbled when my phone rang.
A part of me expected it to be Vi asking me to coffee again and annoyed I didn’t text her back, but a small smile touched my lips when I saw it was Abuela.
“Abuela.” I smiled when I answered.
“Mi amorcita, why don’t you call me this week?” she asked in English, which surprised me.
“Where are you?” I asked her in Spanish.
Vi was only half right when she said my father was white as she poked fun at me with the girls. His mother was Colombian and his father was Canadian. He got his father’s complexion and the girls never got to know him outside of the framed photographs in my house. Not that I would hold it against drunk Vi — especially when the girls were ganging up on her.
“I am with your Gran. We just came from church.”
My smile broadened.
The loss of my father brought my grandmothers together when my mother fell hard into depression. Catalina Perez and Lucretia Clarke practically raised me. Having both lost their husbands young, they became the parents my mother needed during her grief and have been best friends ever since.
“Lulu wanted to show me her new veranda.” That they still had separate homes was ridiculous. They were always together.
“Mhmm. Jacob did a fine job. I keep telling you to give that boy a call, Eden. He’s a carpenter with his own business. And he takes care of his mama so well.” One thing about Gran was she was more traditional than she would admit. She didn’t let a chance to set me up pass her by, my life incomplete without a husband.
If she only knew.
A huff left me as I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. Jacob is a real catch, Gran.”
“He is! Don’t make it out to seem like he ain’t got nothing to offer, baby. It’s okay to say someone ain’t for you without putting them down. He’s a hard-working boy.”
Gran always saw the best in everyone and didn’t like when people were quick to judge. Even her grandbaby wasn’t safe from a lecture about passing judgment.
“You’re right. I’m sure he’s a fine man.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as my shoulders shot up to my ears. My eyes widened as a shiver touched my spine and I paused. Silence enveloped me in a tight hold at the absence of my shoes echoing through the empty garage. Gran’s voice was far away as I lowered the phone slightly from my ear and looked around.
Something was wrong.
I felt like I walked through a spiderweb and could feel the gossamer strings of unease wrapped around me. Something I couldn’t see but could feel no matter how many times I tried to swipe them away.
Don’t borrow trouble, Eden. You’re just too in your head.
My world was rocked. It only made sense I was still trying to find my footing.
Eyes narrowed, I looked over the silhouettes of cars set further back from my row. The ones the overhead lights didn’t fully illuminate.
“Are you listening, mi amorcita?”
My eyes narrowed as something lit dimly in the dark. It looked like a firefly fluttering about only its wings were too big. It flew closer and I looked at the pale moth.
What the fuck?
It fluttered too close to my face, making me flinch back before it flew away leaving what I swore was an orange glow behind it.
I was losing my damned mind.
There were always monsters in the dark. The mind liked it that way. It liked to show us the worst when we were most vulnerable. A pile of clothes on a chair became someone watching you sleep. A tree in the woods became someone lurking, a silly moth could seem menacing and the shadow by my car —
Fucking moved!
I jumped. My heart thudded angrily against my ribs as I turned and ran full speed towards the elevator bank. My phone was clutched to my chest. My bag beat against my thigh as my sensible flats became stupid things that wouldn’t stay on my feet and I debated kicking them off and abandoning them all together. My anxiety peaked when I reached the glass doors. Desperation forced my breath to remain trapped in my chest as I ripped the door open.
