240
It was the morning of the Dolphin Social.
Marista had her hair up in curlers, no make-up, and in a cozy dark purple robe. Amara was painting her mother's nails a pretty gold color.
"Thanks for doing this for me." Marista said to her daughter. She smiled at her.
Amara smiled back, "You look happy, but your eyes look sad. What's wrong?"
Marista shook her head. "It's nothing." She said out loud then thought, Maybe I should have let Paulie escort me to the social.
Her relationship with Donovan had ruined so much for her. Her guard was always up. Marista had dated a little bit, but no one had made her feel comfortable. That day sitting with Paulie and getting to know him better had been really nice.
"Mom, who or what are you thinking about?" Amara asked, grinning as she painted the last nail on her mom's pinkie finger.
"I was thinking about your father." Marista told her a half truth.
Amara laughed. "What'd he do now?"
Marista rolled her eyes. "Same crap as usual. Lying, complaining, getting on my nerves.
241
"And he's gonna be at the social. He's gonna say something and you'll get upset and walk away - like usual." Amara said.
And it dawned on Marista. He's been stealing my happiness. And I've been letting him.
"Not this time, Amara. I want to have a good time."
Amara went to put away the nail polish. "Let those nails dry. I'll come back in ten minutes to fix your make-up. "I'm gonna go wake up the others."
Marista nodded and looked over at the bed. Her dress was zipped up in a clothing bag for now.
Amara found Marika and Meranda talking in the kitchen. "We're leaving in four hours."
"Yeah and we live like ten minutes from the place. We have plenty of time." Meranda said.
Amara rolled her eyes to the left and shook her head. "Then you two will be like WE need fifteen more minutes when we need to leave."
Meranda and Marika looked at each other knowing Amara was right.
"Shouldn't Mermista be here by now?" Marika said, taking a sip of her coffee.
242
Marista's hair was up in curlers.
The other girls were now doing each other's nails and hair too.
"We're meeting the guy's there right?" Meranda asked.
"That's the plan. I just don't know which boat they're taking." Mermista said, smiling down at her shiny black nails.
Marika sat lost her her own thoughts. Her memory drifted back to the day she took Paulie to get fitted for his suit. As they had been looking through many she had said to him, "I need to tell you something."
Paulie had looked at her with a little concern. Marika's tone held worry in it. "Okay."
She took his hand and they went to sit for a few minutes. "My mother hasn't had a real honest relationship in a very long time." She said with a heavy sigh. "Paulie, I've known you for a while now and I like you. I think you and my mother could be really good for each other. Even though it is weird to think you could possibly be related to me someday."
