MOMMY ISSUES | Tamber

30

A brilliant spring day bathes the wide, rolling expanse of greenery in a kaleidoscope of vibrant hues and fragrances. Clusters of flowering dogwood and cherry blossom trees form dappled canopies across the park's meandering footpaths.

Beneath one such awning of delicate pink petals, two figures are seated on a wooden bench - one radiating contentment while the other seems poised on the keen edge of roiling disquiet.

Tara beams down at Avana nestled in her lap, gently bouncing the giggling toddler up and down with each languid swell of her thighs. Mother and daughter seem lost in a world all their own, the pure, uncomplicated joy shining from both faces a balm against harsh reality.

For a fleeting instant, all the bitter unraveling and strife plaguing their lives seems immeasurably distant - the dark specter of Tara's escalating feud with Amber banished beneath the clement warmth of the sun's caress.

At least until AMBER stirs restlessly beside her, fingers drumming out a fitful, arrhythmic tattoo against the bench's weathered slats.

Tara casts a sidelong glance at her wife and the gentle rapture etched across her features fractures in unmistakable dismay. But rather than allow the moment to sour completely, she affects a serene front and shifts closer until their shoulders brush.

"What's wrong, honey?" Tara asked, softly. "I thought getting some fresh air and family time might do us all a world of good."

Amber doesn't immediately acknowledge the unspoken overture, continuing to moodily track the flux of passerby streaming around them. Her eyes narrow infinitesimally as a lithe young jogger in little more than spandex shorts and a sports bra breezes past, sweat glistening across sculpted abdominal muscles.

Tara's earnest inquiry withers on her tongue as she follows the naked hunger flickering across Amber's chiseled visage like heat lightning. Disappointment washes through her, further spoiling the tranquil illusion she briefly basked in only moments earlier.

But just as suddenly as she became entranced, Amber blinks and seems to re-orient herself. She straightens imperceptibly with a delicate pucker of her brow, realizing Tara has allowed a brooding silence to mushroom between them once more.

"Don't be absurd, Tara." Amber dismissed, "Of course I'm pleased to indulge in these rare opportunities you insist upon."

he emphasizes the last with an unmistakable undercurrent of condescension - a tiny jab couched in honeyed acquiescence. But where Tara might once have flinched or withdrawn in the face of such froideur, she remains admirably steadfast.

In fact, her grip subtly tightens around Avana, expression settling into a resolved neutrality entirely at odds with the picture-perfect domesticity she sought to project. "Careful, Amber. I won't have you speak that way in front of our daughter, much less pull whatever juvenile stunt you were about to attempt just now." Tara warned. She jerks her chin in a nod toward where the athletic young woman has disappeared beyond a copse of cypress trees ringing the park's perimeter path. The insinuation hangs naked and unspoken in the humid spring air swirling between them.

Caught in the act, Amber has the good grace to look vaguely abashed for half an instant - those salt-green eyes blinking owlishly as the sudden tension threatens to spiral to mutually unpleasant places. But then her face shutters closed once again, features resetting to her customary inscrutable mask of studied indifference.

Despite her outward nonchalance, Tara notes a dull, sullen flush of color creeping into Amber's sculpted cheekbones. Emboldened, she presses the advantage with an arched look of supreme displeasure. "That's what I thought. Now kindly explain what's gotten into you before Avana absorbs any more of your poisonous behavior." She continued.