So We Meet Again by Pierre Forein, J.L. W. (i can read book club txt) 📕

ancestors. The first two years she spent in this house sure had been the best she had. After came the beginning of the battle between Carla and Uncle. She shook her head to send the memories away, which succeeded by the words of someone in the livingroom.

- “Good Morning Aria, you have grown in these past days. Becoming a woman.” Her voice sounded ironic and uncomfortable for Aria’s ears. Carla walked toward her with a glass of vodka at hand.

- “Carla…”

- “I see you are still keeping grudges.”

- “I…”

- “Ah, I know something is fishy, what are you doing here Aria?” Grandma voice interrupted her but her fixated eyes said Carla everything she had to.

- “Grandma, I am so glad to see you. Are you in good health? Did Malus take care of you as I asked her or is she giving you headache?”

- “Don’t be like that. Malus raised you like a sister, remember?”

- “Of course not.”

- “So please show some respect to your baptized sister.” Aria grinned a little as she looked at her Grandma like the first time she met her.

- “Oh, before we start, Uncle is outside the house, and he does not know if you let him in.” Grandma made her favorite face of doubt accompanied by a mean expression while Aria gave her the angel eyes.

- “Well, he can come but I won’t tolerate any mistakes.”

- “Thanks Grandma. So boys, you can come. I brought Kenley as well.”

- “Who is this, Kenley?”

- “My fiancee, Grandma.”

- “It is a pleasure to meet you Madame.” Kenley introduced himself with a bright smile and a handshake.

- “Well, I see you two finally want to give me some grandkids before I go.” Grandma smiled between her teeth.

- “But of course Grandma, we want them to enjoy your company.” Aria pointed out with a big humour to relax everyone.

Verse V

As she came down the stairs, the lights bloomed the room, and we shouted Happy Birthday. Grandma put her hand over her heart and she pretended to have a heart attack. Everyone panicked and tried to do something to prevent Grandma from falling.

- “Grandma, Are you ok? Misako, some water please.” Aria had already reached Grandma for worst case scenario and she had always been the more worried about Grandma than anyone else.

- “Sikes, Gotcha.” We exploded laughing as Misako returned with a glass of water. “You should have seen your face, Aria. Priceless. And Misako, where are you going with this water?”

She had started the party before we could and everyone was having a blast. The family and friends and fiancees united in the living room to celebrate Grandma birthday as planned days ago. Drinks, gifts, and other light dish were served to keep the party atmosphere going. Grandma was telling old stories of the family, of her past, or her former husband. The boys, uncle, Kenley, and Boris had met and was discussing the next championship of NFL teams. While Aria had decided to go for a stroll in the second floor of the house to experience the feeling she had years ago. As she took a look outside in the dark covered by the light of the house and the street leading to the house, she recalled how she broke with her first boyfriend and fell in love with this girl she knew too well. Plunged in her thoughts she did not see Misako coming with her drinks at hand. Misako approached close to Aria while her head was in the opposite direction. She tried reaching to her with her touch thinking about the best memories they made in this house. However she held herself when looking at how they got chopped away from each other. Misako resembled as a wife who had her heart broken with a hand over her heart she closed her eyes.

- “So how is it going so far?” Misako woke her up in her dreams.

- “Hein, oh, everything is fine. I wanted to live some stories again.”

- “Which one?” She asked with a hopeful air that Aria replied her something she already has known.

- “My life here. I miss it.” Aria did not turn her head to explain herself and she did not intend to as she continued to admire the beauty of the long alley of light in the street and houses.

- “So We meet again after all these past few years.”

- “Yeah, well…”

- “What Am I to you? You did not call, you did not write and you expect me to just jump off where we left of.”

- “I am sorry I did not know what to write.”

- “At least a Goodbye would have been great.”

The tension between them where intense and was getting higher as they discussed how they were separated and each other forgot even if they even knew each other. The little playmate became a real discussion for sure when the subject of divorce between Uncle and Carla entered in the conversation. They were going to explode at each other but Uncle intervened.

- “We are going to great table now for dinner. Are you two coming?”

- “Of course.” Aria answered while taking her glass and followed Uncle down the stairs leaving Misako with a headache of questions without any replies.

- “What are you two discussing.”

- “Nothing, Uncle. we better join the others at the table. Where is Malus? She is eating with us, right?”- “Of course, she is eating with us. We had already finished helping her with the table.” Uncle noted as they joined the others on the table with the bottle of wine.

    Everyone joined the table as a family. Misako was the last to appear with her red eyes, hiding her feelings through a poker face with a terribly smile of hers everyone knew well. She sat at the table, said grace as Grandma request from her and started passing the best dish on the table. Well everything was perfect for a perfect evening in family with a celebrated mother, grandma, and sister.

Verse VI

“What, What do you mean?”

“It can’t be. You are saying that…”

Aria, Misako were standing at the table with their stunning face covered of an expression of unbelievably situation they had never taught about.

“Can you please repeat for us what you just said.” Misako intently tried to understand the unexplainable reason why Uncle and Carla would do something like this.

“You two are the reason why we divorced in the first place.” Carla repeated the sentence again with confidence that they might catch up a tiny of the intention or the possible reason that they had been left in the loop.

- “You know the most amazing is that Between your Uncle and I still have love from our marriage and we keep on loving each other even a little.”

- “Kenley, Boris, Please excuse us. This is a family business, we do not want to be rude. Can you…” Aria exposed the situation to the guys, which Kenley understood right away.

- “Do not worry, we understand. Let’s go Boris.

Misako froze for a moment thinking of how the conversation came to take this turn until Carla revealed this unbelievable truth.

    Everyone sat at the table. Grandma in the principal chair at the head of the table; from right we had Boris, Misako, and Carla, from left Malus, Uncle, Kenley and Aria at the second head table. She said grace and gave the signal to start eating. Malus begun by serving Grandma and passing the plate around for everyone to take as much as they can. The ambiance at the table was either intense or calm and the words shortened the more and more.

- “Well I gotta say this is the real first fun I have in ages with my mother and Abraham.” Carla stated with loud voice and a pride.

- “Well I  am glad you feel that way since you had never made uncle happy. I can understand where our selfish feeling came from.” Aria pointed out to Carla with an irritated face.

- “Carla is not responsible for our behavior or our gene. Uncle too has to blame in this.” Misako added after Aria confirmation.

- “This time I had it with you. Who do you think you are to budge in the conversation between Carla and I? I was not pressing on the marriage matter. Carla knows well enough we do not see eye for eye.

- “Aria, my dear please.”

- “I am sorry to do this to you Grandma but this time I had it. What do you need to be the one star in everything?”

- “I have to defend aunty from your claws about this divorce issue.”

- “See you do not know anything. I have my own issue with Carla and I was not talking about the divorce they had.” Aria knocked the fork strong enough on the table to bend it. “Trust me this is the last time you did that, next you won't be so lucky.”

- “That is enough,” Carla stood up around the table with some strong reprimandations. “I am telling them.” She said as she looked at Uncle who closed his eyes and up his shoulders for a heavy burden but he did not consider it to be heavy as the time passed. Nevertheless the burden was not the problem but the person for whom they were holding the burden.   

- “Do you wanna know why Uncle and I got divorced?” Carla asked calmly with a face of serenity letting peace at last enter her soul with this burden. “Both of you are the cause Uncle and I divorced.”

MIsako returned to the reality to see Grandma with her arms crossed over her chest, Uncle did not mention a word, and Carla continued to give a simple explanation for the girls. During the conversation, Aria left the table, took a glass of wine and went outside to have some air. She collapsed at the border of the second floor as she left her  on the floor letting her tears rolled down her face without a noise.

- “I told she would not support this. You break her.”

- “Enough Uncle, he was the time. I am sorry Mom but I had no choice.”

- “Nice one my dear, you manage to crash my party and break my grandkids. Well I can’t complain you are my daughter after all.” Grandma stated in a disappointed tone. The rest that followed to the family brought them to their lowest point where even Uncle could not recover.