RAINSTORM

Ch. 42

The shop is filled with beautiful dresses. Moira and Annie keep glancing at each other, and at Rachel, who hadn't moved from the rack she first went to since entering the shop. Rachel stares at the dresses hanging in front of her, but her mind is preoccupied with something else.

When a hand touches her shoulder, Rachel looks up startled. It's Moira. "You have been like this the whole day, and don't tell me it's nothing. Come on, let's talk."

At one of the refreshment stall tables outside, the three of them sit down with a soda can each. Rachel tells them what happened with Hector in the old game room when Rachel went looking for him to apologize.

"Look, Rachel," Annie says, "I really think it's high time the two of you spoke to each other more freely. The whole mixed signal thing is hurting you both."

Rachel turns the can in her hand.

"Are you afraid he doesn't share the same feelings as you?" Moira asks.

Rachel shakes her head. "I'm not afraid of a rejection," Rachel says, "I just... I feel like I hit a wall with him. He misunderstands everything I say these days, and I don't know why. In the beginning, it seemed like we could talk to each other about anything, but now he sometimes talks as if I'm judging him, or I feel like he's judging me. I don't know why we became like this." She wipes the corner of her eye.

"Did you tell him all that?" Annie says.

"No, and with each day I want to ignore it even more."

"That's why you should just take it all off your chest as soon as possible. Brooding over it will only make it worse, and it will get only that much harder in the future to talk about it. Even if it doesn't go anywhere, don't you at least want it to end properly?"

Later, while Rachel drives back to her home, she thinks about what Annie said. When crossing the 43rd street, Rachel pulls over to the side and glances at the eastward road turn. That's the road she'll need to take to head for Hector's house. A part of her doesn't want to visit the place where his mother is, and another wants to get this over with quickly.

Rachel makes up her mind and turns on the road.

Twenty minutes later, she pulls over in front of Hector's house.

After taking a moment to mentally prepare herself to face his mother, Rachel gets off from her car, and rings the doorbell.

In a few seconds, the door opens. A middle aged woman in a maid's uniform is at the doorway. Rachel recognizes her from her last visit. And so does the woman, as she says, "Ms. Rachel."

"Is Hector in? I need to see him."

"No miss. He is outside. Should I call him and inf—"

"No, it's okay. I guess I'll just see him in school. Sorry for bothering you," Rachel says and turns around to leave when the woman calls out to her.

"Ms. Rachel, if you don't mind, can I please talk to you for a moment?" The maid says.

"Sure," Rachel says.

"Please come in," the woman says.

Rachel hesitates.

"Mistress is not home," the woman says, sensing Rachel's reluctance.

Rachel enters the house. The maid seats her in the living room before bringing her a cup of coffee.

After Rachel has taken a sip, the woman says, "May I ask a favor of you Ms. Rachel? It's about Master Hector."