the dependence

misterious woman

It all started on a day definitely too hot to be a mid-December day, I was in my house in California with my family, ready, perhaps not quite, to celebrate the Christmas holidays with my relatives, knowing they would make it a damn hell.
I was flipping through the pages of a book without paying attention to the content, almost as if I didn't want to be caught thinking and fantasizing about millions more places I could spend this period that should be so intrinsic of magic, but then, I stopped for a longer than necessary to stare at a page, when the sound of someone knocking on the door woke me up from my trance.
I shook my head almost as if to delete whatever thought was going through my brain at that moment and I put the book back on the coffee table near the couch getting up.
Of all the people I could have expected to see at that moment, the last one was my friend Rindy.
'hey Abby' she said smiling warmly at me
'Oh Rindy, what are you doing here? Come in 'I said making space for her to enter.
She took off the scarf she had wrapped carefully and in a few seconds she hugged me really thightly;
We hadn't seen each other for a while, unfortunately the distance between us didn't allow us to meet often but we were best friends from an early age.
'I missed you' Rindy said 'Although I don't have much time, but I invite you to come with me'
'Really? I'd love to, 'I said happily, whatever option would have been better than staying with my family that day.
I took my coat from the hanger and quickly walked to the door, no one would know I would go out, so they couldn't track me down and for a few hours I would finally be at peace.
'Let's go,' I said
'Heyy Abby wait for me' Rindy said trying to reach me.
We settle into her car and the instant I sat inside it I breathed a sigh of relief for two reasons:
Number one, I was finally cleared for a day from family tragedies, which unfortunately never lacked in my family;
Number two, I could have spent time with my best friend who unfortunately I hadn't seen in months and maybe and just maybe I would have had a chance to see Rindy's mother this time.
Well this is a long story, let's say she has always been very absent, but the only time I saw her, she was in passing and we were very little.
I remembered her as a tall, blonde and naturally well dressed woman, the little me seemed to love her style for what little I saw, it seemed to fit perfectly with her personality, mysterious and elusive.
But, I remember there was never a shortage of problems between her and Rindy, they never had a very close and well, peaceful relationship, at least that's what she told me about it.
I moved my gaze out of the window, watching the families decorating the outside of the houses with colored lights in honor of the arrival of Christmas and this thing warmed my heart, it seemed that at least during a holiday even the bitter enemies did a truce.
Several snowflakes fell on my window creating small wet trails on the glass, instinctively, I opened the window slightly and put my hand out of it; I've always liked the cold and wet feeling of snow on my skin, it caused me a cold shiver that started from my arm, on my skin and went straight to my heart.
I have always felt the magic of Christmas a lot, and I always took it very seriously as a holiday even if in my family it was not so important to celebrate it.
I realized that I was lost in my thoughts when after who knows how long I realized that Rindy stopped the car and turning my gaze towards her I noticed that we had finally arrived in front of the beautiful home of the Aird family, well always better than spending the day in my boring house.
I opened the door of the car looking around and enjoying the Christmas atmosphere that I have always felt in that neighborhood and I followed Rindy to the front door.
Honestly, it had been a long time since I was there, but everything seemed to have frozen over the years to always remain the same, always very cheerful and familiar.
When Rindy opened the door the first thing I saw was a large Christmas tree positioned in the center of the room and intent on decorating it there was a woman, a beautiful woman, with blond hair who seemed very focused to notice the entrance of her daughter in the room.
'Mom' Rindy said catching her attention, but, she actually turned to look at me.
'It's her' I thought to myself
I couldn't help but blush under her gaze, suddenly she smiled brightly at me and I won't hide that this made me feel special.
'She's my friend Abby,' Rindy said but I guess she wasn't listening her.
She was looking at me almost as if she was examining me, I almost thought for a moment that she already knew my name; from the way she looked at me I thought she understood everything about me at that moment.
'Carol, Carol Aird' she said again smiling and reached out her hand to me.
We never stopped making eye contact and I interpreted it as an invitation so I took her hand in mine shaking it slightly.
'Nice to meet you Mrs. Aird' I said and I never thought I could meet Rindy's mysterious mother or that she was so beautiful.