"First of all, I don't belong to you."
"What are you saying? You're not my girl?"
"I didn't…"
"I asked you to be my girl, no? You said yes, no?"
"That doesn't…"
"You walk around in the hoochie clothes. Your cheekies hanging out, teasing the mens."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"I'm not your wife, Enzo!"
"No. And I would never ask you. You're too easy, anyway."
"Maybe you're just not enough," Taylor hissed.
There was a loud smacking sound and then quiet.
"Did you fuck him?"
"Let go of me. You're hurting me."
Steve sprang up from the hammock and went to the fence line, standing on tiptoe to look over. Enzo had his hand on Taylor's upper arm and a blossom of red splotches was spreading across her left cheek.
"Hey," Steve called out. Both glanced his way, some of the tension breaking between them. Taylor wrenched her arm from Enzo and ran into the house. Enzo kicked at a bench and cussed, then went after her.
"What are you doing?" Serene had returned with a pitcher of lemonade and a bag of organic cheese puffs. Steve met her at the round patio table he used to sit at with her grandmother.
"I just heard Taylor and Enzo fighting. I think he slapped her. When I looked over there, he had her by the arm."
Serene set everything down, frowning slightly. "They argue a lot."
"They do?"
"Yeah. But it's not your business."
Steve's face grew warm. "He hit her."
"Taylor's always causing problems," Serene said, her features growing rigid.
"But it doesn't give Enzo the right to hit her."
"Look, brah, you don't want to get involved in Taylor's problems. She goes and says things all the time that make people huhu. If you get involved, the next thing you know you're fighting her battles."
Steve used to think Serene's lapse into Hawaiian pidgin was cute, fun. But lately she only used it when she was angry with him or talking to Kanani.
"It's never okay for guys to hit girls."
Serene shrugged and went back into the house for the glasses. When she returned, she placed the glasses on the patio table and poured their lemonade before taking a seat. Steve still felt riled up over Serene's laissez-faire attitude.
"I can't sit back and watch a guy hit a girl."
Serene took a long swallow of her drink and opened up the bag of cheese puffs.
"What, you're going to ignore me now?"
"No," she said coolly. "I just don't want to talk about Taylor."
"You don't care about women being abused?"
"How did we get there?" Serene gave him a dark look, her eyes a silty black.
"I'm not a fan of Taylor, but…"
"No. You're not." Serene snapped. "It's why you went break it off with her, brah."
There was something different about Serene's demeanor that Steve had never seen before. He didn't like it, this strange masculine energy.
"Stop calling me brah. I'm not your brah."
She raised a brow and then threw back her head and laughed. It was a harsh laugh. "Okay, whatevas, Steve."
He could feel the anger roiling in his belly, a kind of impotent rage.
"I'm gonna take off."
Serene popped several cheese puffs in her mouth. "That's too bad," she said, her mouth full. "But maybe if Enzo give Taylor one slap, he had a reason. You ever consider that?"
Taylor, sitting on his dad's lap, flashed through Steve's mind, and he wanted to ask what reason Serene was hinting at, but couldn't bring himself to question the reasoning of a boy hitting a girl. It was wrong no matter what. Enzo hitting Taylor, grabbing her arm, was wrong.
Ten minutes later, from his bedroom window, he watched Serene leave her house on her skateboard without even a glance in his direction. Her complete and utter dismissiveness left him feeling slightly panicked. He couldn't imagine Serene not being a part of his world, or him a part of hers. Who was that girl he was just arguing with? This other side of Serene he'd never seen before?
40
Barbara - March 2020
The swanky sounds of classic jazz drifted through the house while Cuppa made breakfast and Erica sat on the sofa, legs crossed, typing something on their laptop. Barbara sat at the kitchen table with Dora, sipping coffee, her mother with a hot chocolate. The sudden desire for hot chocolate every day was one more thing that was different about her mother. Dora's top of the line espresso machine sat on the kitchen counter, unused by her. She'd loved making the perfect cappuccino. Now, oddly, she drank Nestle’s Quick. Barbara stole glances at her mother every now and then, wondering what she was thinking as she blew on her drink and gazed absently in the direction of the living room.
"Have you been keeping up with this virus in China? It looks like it's spreading," Erica said, frowning down at their screen.
Cuppa set a platter of steaming eggs on the table and Barbara got up to help her bring in the rest of the meal.
"It's terrible," Cuppa said. "The other day I went to meet Lin and Clair to talk about their spring wedding. They just flew in from Singapore." She made a face. "I must admit, I was a little," Cuppa scrunched her mouth, looking for the right words, "put out. I know I'm acting paranoid, but I found myself sort of keeping my distance," she added apologetically.
Erica frowned and typed something, their eyes scanning whatever they'd pulled up. "There are only a few cases in Singapore. And with Wuhan completely closed down, I think they should be able to get it under control."
"Yeah, but there's been cases popping up in Europe, too. Whole towns in Italy are shutting down." Cuppa licked a smudge of butter off her pinkie and rubbed her finger on her apron before grabbing the platter of bacon.
"Ramani said she thinks it's only a matter of time. That we're not prepared," Barbara added and picked up the plate of fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil leaves,
