I'm an orphan!
Manny Santos felt the telephone receiver start to slip from her hand and clenched it tighter. Her freshly polished fingernails dug into her palm, but she did not loosen her grip as she stared over the sparkling waters of the Aegean Sea.
Her aunt's calming voice sounded soothing, belying her words as she said "This was a shock to all of us. Your father did her best to hide the seriousness of his tumor, even from me. I did not know how sick he was until it was too late."
Manny reached for her pack of Marlboro slims lying on the seaside table next to her. Taking one cigarette out of the pack, she brought the sweet smelling tobacco to her lips while blindly searching for her lighter in her Dolce and Gabana Purse. She lit up her cigarette then leaned back in her chaise lounge in front of the villa she rented for the summer in Greece.
Daddy can't be gone. She knew he had been unwell, but he was supposed to get better. He told her he would. Pushing her favorite silver rimmed, blue tinted coach sunglasses farther up the bridge of her nose, Manny blinked back tears. "Was it bad at the end?"
"No the morphine helped a lot with the pain. He slipped peacefully in his sleep." Manny closed her eyes, trying not to imagine her tough, larger than life father lying small and withered in his expensive oak bed. "I know you and your father did not get along well but it would mean so much to him if you came to the funeral and after they will read his will" Spike cut into her thoughts. "I'll be there" Manny replied