Breve Series: Date at the Water Grill

Untitled Part 2

Evelyn parked her car right in front of her daughters' house. She leaned back in her seat and sighed wistfully; the house reminded her of her beloved late husband, Charles. She'd been widowed for four years and each time she visited, which was almost every day, she was engulfed by bittersweet memories. Charles had the house built for the three girls, Susan, Kathy, and Brigitte. It was his and Evelyn's dream to provide them with a home where they can each have their own place but still be close to each other, even when they had their own families.

The complex had four individual two-bedroom apartments outfitted with the latest household conveniences. It had a nicely landscaped, low-maintenance front yard. It was built in an L shape around a large patio. The grassy backyard was surrounded by a tall wooden fence for privacy. Susan, the oldest, lived in the first apartment downstairs, her windows overlooking the street. She liked the relative freedom it offered, she could come and go without the others noticing. Kathy's apartment was in the middle of the L, also on the first floor. Brigitte, the youngest, lived above them on the second floor.

The fourth apartment, at the end of the L shape, was originally supposed to be for Charles and Evelyn when they became too old to care for their own large house. That was still in the cards for Evelyn. The apartment stood empty for several years until recently, when one of Evelyn's friends asked if they would rent it out to her son. Evelyn quickly got the girls' blessing and Pete moved in. Having a male presence close to her daughters was reassuring for Evelyn, and the rent Pete paid helped her on the mortgage. She didn't want to burden the girls with monthly payments.

Charles lived long enough to see the girls move in, and he took pleasure in seeing how much they appreciated the generous gift from their parents. They loved each other and loved gathering on the patio, cooking out or just having a relaxing glass of wine. Of course, they were always in each other's business, giving advice and analyzing relationships. There were times when they got on each other's nerves and started to feel like killing one another or at least slapping one another – usually Brigitte – silly. On those occasions, they could always return to their own apartments.

Susan had a great job working as a paralegal, but Kathy was still in veterinary school, and the third one, Brigitte... Brigitte was special. Not only because she was the baby, but also because even though she was in her early 20s, she still didn't have a clue what she wanted to be when she grew up. She changed her mind as often as other women change their purse. She had probably tried out every possible major there was, but she did not see through any of them. What she really-really wanted to do, her true calling was helping people; she thought that was the noblest thing ever.

Brigitte began her meandering journey at a reputable liberal arts college with the idea of becoming a journalist. She was working hard at it for two months, then, she decided that the best way to help people is not to write about their problems but rather to help analyze their problems, so the following semester she began taking psychology classes. After a month she concluded that she didn't want to deal with stressed-out, crazy people, because as she said, that stressed her out and made her crazy as well. She still wanted to save the world and humanity, so in her sophomore year, she moved on to healthcare studies. Two months later, she realized that not only she hated to be in a hospital but that she hated hospitals in general with the smell and everything, so she took a vacation term.

She had a very good friend at the time, who convinced her that the best way to help people is to send them on nice vacations. This helped the world at large too because relaxed people were nice to everybody and considerate of others, so Brigitte decided to go into the tourist industry. She eagerly threw herself into learning the art of selling expensive luxury holiday packages. But after a month in the business, she had a very bad dispute with her friend that had to do with boyfriends and relationships. Specifically, it had to do with this guy Brigitte was seeing and the relationship between him and her friend. Once Brigitte realized that the friend was more of a frenemie and that she was a big fat liar, she started to doubt the validity of her career advice. Honestly, if this 'friend' thought that knowing someone is the same as having sex with that person, she was probably wrong about tourism too.