Chapter 6 - Nora Started Asking Why I Never Came
Six months before the gala, Nora called me from:
Mom’s house.
“Uncle Keith?”
“Hey, bug.”
“Are you busy?”
Always dangerous question.
“A little.”
She became quiet.
I closed my laptop.
“What’s up?”
“Grandma says you have important work.”
“I do.”
“But are you too busy for me?”
That hurt.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why don’t you come?”
I stared at:
the window.
I had been traveling:
London,
Toronto,
Chicago.
Two board deals.
Foundation committee.
I had canceled:
two weekends.
“Soon.”
I said.
She answered:
“Okay.”
Then:
“Grandma says you don’t like when I’m sad.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why would she say that?”
“She says you had enough sad with Mom.”
There.
I called Eleanor immediately.
“Did you tell Nora I don’t want to see her because she reminds me of Laura?”
Mom sighed.
“No.”
“She says you did.”
“I told her you’re still grieving.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“Keith, she asks why you cancel.”
“So you tell her I’m grieving?”
“What should I say?”
“The truth.”
“You’re working.”
“That makes you sound better?”
I had no answer.
Because:
no.
It did not.
Instead of changing the behavior, I argued about:
the explanation.
Then canceled another weekend:
three weeks later.
May you like
That became clue one.
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