Olive Branches Don't Grow on Trees Read Online Free Page B

intent on getting back with Frank, or because the rent was too
expensive for her to afford long term and that she had planned on leaving it
for a cheaper apartment.  Silvia assumed that the apartment was more than
her mother could afford on her part-time college professor salary.
    Aside
the financial stress that Silvia imagined her mother must have felt, she was
also surely stressed over leaving before Vince had graduated high school and
was safely out of the house.  Every time she and Silvia had spoken since
she left Frank, Vince had been the focal point of their conversation. 
  
    “He
sounds depressed when I talk to him on the phone.  And last weekend, when
I saw him, he moped around the whole time.  I know he's not mad at me.
 I didn't do anything to make him mad, and he doesn't get mad.  You
know the way he is.  He could be depressed.  I really hope Dad isn’t
being a total bastard to him.”
    Silvia
was hurt by her mother’s lack of concern for how she was doing.  Yet, she
was relieved that she did not have to delve into her problems, because each
time she did, they seemed to grow like a big pile of trash getting higher
because of a garbage strike.  Feeling hurt, while understandable, was rare
for Silvia.  She never seemed to need anything from anyone, including her
own mother, and never felt hurt for someone’s lack of concern for how she was
doing.  But she was at an all-time low and so she felt hurt.  Of
course, she made no display of her hurt feelings but rather listened to her
mother continue with her monologue of worry.  She told her mother that
Vince was just nervous about going so far away to college and about the
possibility of Frank not paying.
    “Dad
will pay.  He just likes to threaten that he won’t.  And as far as going
so far away is concerned, you think he'd be happy to get as far away from that
house as possible!” Donna said.  Although Silvia could not agree with her
mother more about how Vince should be happy to get far away, this comment
caused her to sink even further down.  Fortunately, her mother caught her
insensitivity. 
    “I'm
sorry, Silvie .  I didn’t mean to put the house
down.  Besides, you're only staying there until you get yourself together.
 You could stay with me here.”
    “In
your little studio Mom? Where would I sleep?  In the bathtub?”
    “Well,
you’re much better at dealing with Dad than I was.  And you’re much better
than Vince.”
    “He
and Dad are getting along fine Mom,” she said.
    “I
don’t believe that, Silvie .”
    “Well
then I’m not sure what to tell you.”
    “Hey,
didn't that weird girl he was seeing break up with him a little while ago?”
    “I
don’t know.  He doesn’t talk about that stuff to me.  I don’t know if
he discusses his love life with anyone.  I just think he’s anxious about
going far away.”
    Then
Donna blurted out, “I bet that Dad is trying to turn Vince against me.
 Turn a son against his own mother.  Imagine that.  Do you hear
Dad mentioning my name at all to Vince?” 
    Silvia
could very clearly picture the indignant expression on her mother’s still
youthful face.
    “No,
I didn’t hear him mention your name to Vince, Mom.”
    “It’s
just that I always worry about Vince.  Oh, I wish I could have stayed
there longer, but I just couldn’t.”
    “You
don’t have to explain yourself to me, Mom,” said Silvia with a hint of sarcasm.
    “Maybe
he thinks I was neglectful.”
    “He
doesn’t think that, Mom.”
    “Maybe
I can plan some kind of party for his graduation.  That would be a way to
make it up to him.”
    “Make
what up to him?” Despite Silvia’s frustration, she was beginning to accept the
fact that her mother was not listening to her, so she decided to stop talking
and to let Donna rant on freely. 
     “Yes,
it can be something simple.  We can plan for a family dinner at a nice
restaurant.”  She cleverly inserted the word we where the word I should have