Chapter 1 - The Chair That Wasn't Mine
The chandelier was already on even though it was still daylight outside. I remember that first because the crystals threw little white squares across the long glass table and straight onto the white plates. Everything was set. The rolled napkins with the gold rings. The tall glasses. The candles that weren't lit yet. I walked in in my light pink lace dress and my pink clip holding back my curls on one side, and I was looking for where I was supposed to sit.
Vanessa was already there. She was seated near the middle in her black sleeveless dress, her long dark hair combed smooth over her shoulders, her arms crossed tight over her chest. Her diamond necklace caught the light when she turned her head toward me. She didn't move or unfold her arms. She just watched me come closer with that small smirk, like she already knew something I didn't.
My name is Elena. I was six that afternoon.
The windows went all the way from the floor to the ceiling behind the table, and the city was bright white and blue beyond the glass. I could see the tops of the other buildings. The ornate gold chairs were pushed in neat all down both sides of the table. Dad was standing between us. He had on his black suit, his dark wavy hair a little messy like he'd run his hand through it, his beard shadowed under the warm light. He looked at Vanessa, then he looked at me.
I stopped at the corner of the table where I always stopped. The place in front of me had no plate. There was just empty glass where a white plate should have been. The napkin with the gold ring was gone too. The glassware on either side was still there, and I could see my face bent in the side of one water glass, small and stretched. I stared at that empty space and felt my eyes start to burn. I didn't understand how every other spot down the long table could be perfect and mine could just be missing.
I looked down at my dress and smoothed the lace over my knees with both hands. Rosa was standing a few feet behind me near the wall. I could hear her breathing, quiet and fast, and the soft swish of her black uniform and white apron when she shifted her weight. Her dark hair was pulled back neat. She didn't step forward. She didn't step back. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and when I glanced back she was looking at Dad, not at me, like she was waiting for him to do something first.
Vanessa uncrossed one arm just enough to touch the edge of the plate in front of her, then crossed it again. The smirk didn't leave her face. The diamond necklace rose and fell a little when she breathed. I kept my eyes on that empty glass spot on the table. I wanted to reach out and touch it to make sure I wasn't seeing it wrong. My throat hurt from trying not to cry in front of everyone. The room was so quiet I could hear the faint hum from the chandelier and the far-off traffic way down below the windows.
Dad turned his head sharply toward Vanessa. I saw it from the side, the way his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. He had that stern, worried look he got when he didn't know what to say. He looked back at me, his brow pulled low, and for a second I thought he was going to move a chair out for me or go get another plate himself. He didn't move yet. He just stood there between her chair and my empty spot, his hands at his sides, his shoulders stiff.
May you like
Behind me, past the doorway to the hall, the doorbell rang.
Rosa sucked in a breath. Vanessa's eyes flicked past me toward the sound and then right back to me. Dad lifted his chin a fraction toward the door but didn't walk to it. I stood still with my hands on my dress and tears sitting hot in the corners of my eyes, looking up at him, about to ask him where I was supposed to sit.
