Imagining Us

Chapter 19

It was a scenario that Esi didn't want to ever experience. But still, Esi felt something in her chest as she looked at the pictures—some feeling. To love someone like that. To have someone look at her like that was her greatest desire and greatest fear.

The jingling of keys at the kitchen door distracted her from her thoughts. Her dad was home. She looked at the grandfather clock in the corner.

6:38pm.

She was pleased that he reached home that early. Maybe she would have enough time to eat with them then study before bed that night. As much as she loved her parents, these family dinners always threw a wrench in her schedule, and she would end up having to leave their home late. It was manipulation at its best. The dinners would always start with reminders of what she was missing out on, then they would lull her into a sense of happiness and nostalgia by reminiscing with funny stories from among their immediate and extended family. She fell for it everytime, but maybe that was because she missed her parents so much. The familiarity that they provided was incomparable.

Her dad would find it a convenient reason to ask her to stay the night instead of making the journey back to her apartment so late. Then, her mum would chime in with the suggestion of her moving back in with them so that they could have these dinners more often.

" Night," her father said wearily as he entered the house.

She heard her mother echo back greetings, and there was the slight smack of lips meeting skin. Esi smiled as she also heard the playful slap that her mum gave her father. She knew that he was probably looking into her pots to see what she was cooking.

Then, her father's voice increased dramatically.

" I wonder if my only daughter is here yet. It's been at least a month—"

She rolled her eyes as she listened to him. She knew exactly where he was headed with that sentence. It hadn't even been two weeks.

"Since she's seen me. Now that she's getting her Master's, she's too busy to spend time with her old parents," he mused. Her mom scoffed, "Speak for yourself and please don't age me. Do you see any greys in my hair?"

She could imagine her mum's coy expression, and couldn't help but grin.

"Ha. That's only because you dye them."

Slap.

"Owww."

She was full blown laughing now, but in the back of her mind, she felt slight guilt at her earlier train of thought about her parents' relationship.

"Maybe you should stop laughing in there and come help set the table." Her mum's voice drifted through the arched doorway connecting the kitchen and the living room, and Esi knew that it was her cue to join them in the kitchen.

~~~~

When she stepped through the doorway, she saw her dad, dressed in his button up shirt and tie, leaning against the counter, eating a handful of nuts.

"Good Night, Dad," she acknowledged.

He looked at her then turned to her mom.

"Do you hear that, Nic? After all these months, that's all I get from her." He was being terribly dramatic and both Esi and her mum knew it.

He still continued, "Not even a hug or an 'I've missed you, Dad." He shook his head disappointedly, and as much as she knew that he was joking, a part of her knew that she would be slightly irritated at his next words.

"That's why I miss your brother, even though he's...he's a lot. He's so open" It's true that Kofi was unnaturally affectionate for someone born into their family. It was a bit unusual. But wasn't it a bit hypocritical of her dad to expect that when it wasn't something that they were accustomed to.