When the morning comes

15 | vivid memories

"Yeah, went out for the day." I didn't specify that it had only been Benji. Who had enjoyed dinner at Unc Teddy's so much that Teddy offered for him to sleep over in the weekend. They had the biggest plans, from going to a farm Teddy used to work at to going to KFC in the afternoon. I knew Teddy had offered to give Benji a break, but also to enlighten the pressure of duties for me at home, which made me feel guilty too. I had time to do everything at a slow pace, seeing I didn't have to worry about Benji, yet I chose to take a walk with a woman and abandon the household that way, anyway.

"It's beautiful here." Salomé mentioned, gazing at the meadow and the tiny yellow flowers peeking out the grass. "You grew up in this area?"

"Isn't it." I mumbled out, remembering how Aurora used to run through the grass, twirling around between the buttercups and the dandelions. With the breeze hitting her dark hair, then the smile that would appear onto her face when she reached for my hand, pulled me close to her. Talking about her hurt. But I didn't want to give Salomé more suspicions. "I didn't grow up here, my wife wanted to live in this area."

"I like that. It's a good choice."

"Yeah, well, it was actually something for the time being. We were saving for the house in Italy." It came out before I thought it through.

"Italy? Wow.." Salomé turned her face to me, followed me as we strolled through the small grove surrounding the area I lived in. "Why all the way over there?"

"She's Italian. My wife, I mean." Stuffing my hands in the pockets of my trousers, I stared at my feet as we walked. "Her family had a house near the lakeside. We wanted to live there, but obviously we needed to pay our share, so we had to save. We married when we were young."

Salomé didn't say anything for a while. "So.. why aren't you saving for it anymore?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said everything in past tense. As if the house isn't there anymore."

On the contrary. "Oh." I swallowed. "We just settled.. here, I guess. With my son at school, my job here and stuff. We didn't really see a reason to move anymore."

"But Italy is stunning."

Great starter to change the subject for me. "Have you been there before?" Without much notice, I pulled a branch out of our way, waiting for Salomé to pass.

"Oh, yeah. I have been there. My father had seen enough of Africa for a while, so we travelled through Europe, where he met other missionaries and priests and stuff." Salomé's voice softened. Her eyes trailed down to her feet.

I wondered if I had said something wrong. Her mood had changed within a second. "Did you like it there?" I asked, carefully. "Where did you go to?"

Salomé looked up, took a deep breath. "Verona. You know, as a girl who was fed with literature while being young, my father thought it would be nice to go to the well- known Romeo e Giulietta balcony." She let out a soft laugh. "It was stunning. Packed full with tourists. You see.. I wasn't in a good place back then. Had been through some stuff before all that and I think I was in my deepest depth moment, the all time low. I couldn't really enjoy myself, even if I wanted to."

"I'm sorry about that." I didn't question further. Figured it wasn't fair if I didn't tell her about my tragedies, either.

"It's alright, something so.. unimaginable happened there too.." Salomé sighed, shrugged her shoulders and glanced at me. "Anyway, if your wife is Italian, and you are.."

"British and my father was South Asian."

"Was?"

"He passed away not too long ago." I shrugged.