I don’t cry easily.
Then Martin cleared his throat, the way he did before saying something he didn’t want to say.
“So. Small thing. I bought one more ticket. For Mom.”
Everything turned quiet in my head, even though the kids were still shrieking.
“Honey, wasn’t this trip supposed to be for our family?”
My husband shrugged, already halfway out of the conversation.
“I bought one more ticket.”
“Yeah, but Mom called and said she wanted to come on vacation with us, too. Well, I couldn’t say no to her.”
I nodded slowly because that’s what I always did.
***
That night, as I folded tiny swim trunks into a suitcase, I felt something I couldn’t name yet. Not anger, not exactly. Something quieter, something that knew before I did that the vacation I’d been dreaming of was already slipping out of my hands.
“I couldn’t say no to her.”
***
The taxi pulled up to the hotel just past noon, and the first thing I noticed was the salt in the air.
