Mrs. Espinoza called and said she wanted to talk.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, Gloria."
"Please," she said. I heard her voice crack, the tears starting to fall. "Just for a little while."
"Okay, meet me for lunch. 12:30 at the Cafe Solange in Westwood."
We hung up.
I started feeling like a even bigger piece of pond scum. When I got off work I was going to hunt down the good doctor and beat the crap out of him. Right now my therapist was dead on. At this moment I hated men, one man in particular.
I shouldn't have taken Eric's money. I should of just told Eric to piss off. Now I had to do even more of his dirty work.
I ordered the tuna salad. Gloria had a cup of coffee.
"Whatever it was," she said, "you two can work it out. Every couple goes through rough times. Look at Marco and me. You think it's all peaches and cream? I know my Luigi. He's set in his ways. But I know the right girl, a girl like you Frannie, would make him change. "
I could feel her heart breaking. I didn't know why it all meant so much to her.
"Gloria," I said, lying "I've known for a long time it wasn't working out."
"Why?"
"We're worlds apart. I want things my way and he has his way. They just don't mesh."
"It could," said Gloria, pleading.
She began to weep.
"I'm sorry," I said, touching her sleeve, trying to comfort her. "It's never going to work out."
I could feel the eyes of everyone in the place burning a hole in the back of my neck. Gloria kept on sobbing and I kept on feeling like shit.
She looked up at me.
"I know the real reason," she whispered. "A mother knows these things."
"What things do you know, Gloria?"
