Desert Heat

CHAPTER TWO: ENTITLED

"Mother, for the millionth time, can you relax?" Lily told her mother, who seemed too excited, that her daughter was finally taking some time off. Her mother smiled at her and placed her hand below Lily's chin. She looked into her daughter's eyes, and she was thrilled that she had raised such a beautiful daughter.

"Your father would have been so proud of you." Her mother told her and those few words sent a sharp pain through Lily's heart. Her father had died when she was just a little girl, and her mother had to endure living life as a widow, but in between raising Lily and working, she had managed to beat the odds.

Lily moved her face away from her mother and she began placing the last of her belongings into her suitcase. Anything at this point would have been better than looking at her mother and reliving the past. Her father had simply walked out of the house to go to work, and just like that, he had not come back home.

Some said he had been shot by some armed robbers with nothing better to do, but the police dismissed those claims as nothing was taken from him. Some even speculated that he had owed someone drug money and the person had caught up with him, but anyone who knew Bryan Robinson knew that he was a good man.

From the corner of her eye, Lily watched as her mother walked over to her bed, and she sat at the edge of the bed with both her hands on her lap. Lily knew what was about to come; her mother would begin one of her long talks about how life goes on, and today Lily was in no mood to hear of it.

"It has been twenty years, Lily," her mother pointed out, and this simply irritated Lily more. She could not figure out how her mother would treat her father's death as nothing more than an accident, even though Lily knew that there was more surrounding her father's death.

"Mother, I don't think it's best to speak about this." She told her mother, hoping that it would end the discussion.

"Okay," her mother replied, and this reply shook Lily so much that she turned her head to look at her mother, making sure that it was truly her mother letting go of an opportunity to advise her on the skill of letting go of the past.

"Are you for real?" She asked her mother, who then smiled at her.

"Yes, you are going to a distant country, and the last thing I want to do is argue with you over some trivial matter," her mother responded to her. Lily was lost for words, so she simply went back to packing her bag. For a moment, Lily was lost in her thoughts, thinking of no one other than her father.

"I hope you fall in love," her mother told her. This statement snapped Lily out of her thoughts. She could not believe that at a time like this, her mother would want her to fall in love, but then again, she did love her mother, so she simply smiled.

"Mother, I am going to the Middle East to do a job, not to find love," Lily responded to her mother, who waved her off.

"It's true, you have been so focused on your career lately that you hardly have time for fun." Her mother complained, and Lily rolled her eyes. This had become their daily routine. Her mother had complained countless times that she was not getting any younger, and it was about time that Lily gave her grandchildren.

"Mother, for the last time, I will find a man, but I still have time," she told her mother, who stopped folding her clothes and looked straight at her daughter.

"Lily, my daughter, you will be turning twenty-nine years old soon. I must warn you that those eggs of yours will not wait until you are ready." Her mother warned her, and truly, this time, Lily had had it.

"Mother, can we please hurry? I have to be at the airport in two hours' time," she informed her mother, who then looked at her watch and had a scare.

"This is your fault, Lily; you could have packed yesterday when you came home." Her mother scolded her, and Lily had her own reasons too.