Chapter 2: To see the Frost again

Thanks so much to When-a-Sprite-Meets -Unicorn and VeraRose19 for reading and reviewing. It means so much to me.

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Ceci opened her eyes about ten minutes before the alarm clock rang. The silence of the apartment enveloped her like a soothing mist, and it took a few seconds to remember why she was so sad. Those little seconds would surely be the sweetest of the day, she told herself bitterly.

Without thinking more, she got out of bed, put on jeans and her nurse blues. She grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand, and walked into the living room. The silence, here, was different, almost brutal . The morning noises were not the same without Ingrid. She was a loud girl. Ceci had never really pay attention about it before. Ingrid was always looking for her things, chatting or mumbling. But Ingrid didn't come to sleep last night.

Cecilia threw a sachet into a cup and turned on the kettle. She would soon smell a delicious raspberry scent. But she didn't want raspberry tea. She wanted to cry. Still, she wouldn't cry. It was something she didn't know how to do.

She turned on the television, then stopped on a news channel. She immediately regretted her choice. It was perfectly depressing.

Her phone beeped and a shiver ran through her, from the neck to the lower back. Perhaps it was Ingrid, Ingrid, who would tell her that she was regretting that horrible sentence she said at lunch yesterday.

XXX

"I don't want to build my life with a nun.",

Cecilia hadn't answered anything. She had swallowed a bite of the sandwich that made up her lunch, then had stared at the girl in front of her: her beautiful red hair, her eyes resting on the plastic table. If Ingrid had said that in her usual casual tone, This wouldn't have hurt her. It was alsothis resignation in her gaze that had given importance to these lyrics.

"I know you don't understand. Besides, I don't understand either. I'm just asking you for a little time," she had pleaded.

Ingrid finally looked up at her. "Listen, I tell myself every day that it doesn't matter. But, the truth is, I'm sick of you being ashamed of yourself, and ashamed of me."

"What do you mean?" Cecilia's voice bounced on the walls of the staff room, where they were fortunatelly alone.

"I mean, what I just told you," Ingrid snapped. "I want to live with you, like a normal couple.

She grabbed the glass box that contained her lunch, and slipped it into her flowery tote bag, ready to leave the room. Everything seemed so simple for her, thought Cecilia as she watched the smooth movement of her long hair behind her back.

Ingrid continued to talk, more calmly:

"I'm not going to come tonight."

"Do you want us to stop?"

"And you?" she asked. Cecilia believed to see a glint of mischief in her eyes. It gave some hope.

XXX

However, last night Ingrid had not come. Ceci sighed as she read her mother's text:

"You left a red filing at the coffee shop."

For a moment, she thought of thanking her, of offering to have a hot drink with her before work.

"I'll pick it up, don't open it." A lively guilt invaded her, while she was sending the message. Her mother was making an effort, she knew it. But until

when would that last?

While drinking her tea, she scrolled through old messages on her phone until she found what she was looking for:

"Take care when you leave your house and take in the view." She had only received this text from Ingrid a week before. When she was out of her apartment,

a thin film of frost covered the steps and the railing of her individual porch, like an almost invisible veil which symbolized the discreet beauty of the world. This morning there was no frost. Ceci wanted to see the frost again.

XXX

There was no frost but patches of ice. She had almost died twice between Litchfield's main square, where she left her car, and the coffee shop gate.

Maybe she should have put on something other than those stupid heeled boots. Ceci looked for her mother in the room . She was busy behind the counter, gathering steaming cups and plates on a tray.

She sat down at one of the small round tables to wait for her. The place was quiet, and smelled of coffee and eggs with bacon. A few customers were having breakfast. Her Chin inher hand, Cecilia watched them.

A little girl was using the arm of a chair to perch on it, and was jumping across the floor, screaming joyfully. Her mother, seemed torn between fun and exasperation. She brooded over her with a tender look:

"It's so good here, Flaca," said the little one.

Ceci smiles. "Flaca" may not have been this little one's mother, but a deep bond seemed to unite them. She continued to watch them discreetly. The girl who told the child to "eat a little", and that "cereal was Princess Elsa's favorite meal when she was little. It was good to think of something else, to think that soon, maybe, things would get better.

"Dios mio." Ceci suddenly heard. "What's the matter with this kid? I don't want another pregnant daughter."

Even though she was far away, she felt uncomfortable. It was Christina's mother. She understood the situation. Poor Christina. She deserved a little peace,

She deserved to live free by making her own choices.

Christina's mother opened a door and disappeared behind. Ceci took the opportunity to join Gloria

XXX

"You want a coffee?" her mother asked.

"Yes, thanks," she agreed, delighted to drink a delicious double Espresso, before the morning meeting that awaited her.

But, her mother didn't move, the red file in her hand. Ceci knew things were going to be tough. Gloria leaned over to her.

"Look, I know I shouldn't be asking you this but Aleida is worried about her daughter."

"I'm a school nurse," Ceci said harshly.

Gloria raised an eyebrow, "It's Christina's well-being that interests me", Ceci continued. Legally, I don't have to tell her mother why she came to see me. She will if she wants to. "

"Aleida has the right to know," Gloria retorted.

Ceci sighed. She reached out to grab her file. Gloria gave it to her.

"Is she pregnant ?" she whispered.

"You just wanted to offer me a coffee, or have what is important to you, without caring about me."

"No," Gloria defended herself. "I am very happy to see you."

Ceci knew that her mother was sincere, but the next moment she was angry again :

"You didn't answer my question." Gloria's words were like a punch. She still insisted.

Ceci responded. She couldn't help it:

"She was pregnant but she is no longer. She chose not to be anymore," she whispered angrily. " Your friend mustn't know that this information comes from me. Because, you're going to tell her, aren't you? "

Gloria didn't answer. She seemed upset. Without another word, Ceci left the coffee shop, her file tight against her.

XXX

After that hard day, her sister's messy and warm apartment was exactly the place she wanted to be.

"Mom won't talk about it," Elena said calmly, reaching into the bundle of doritos in front of her.

"What did I do?", Ceci lamented. "I lost my partenair, and I'm going to lose my job."

"Of cource no. She knows you might be in trouble"

"I don't understand what you're saying," Ceci smiled, pointing to her sister's puffy cheeks of food.

"Yes, you do."

"Ingrid is telling me the same thing," Ceci said thoughtfully , staring at her cell phone screen.

"Oh, you talk to each other," Elena chuckled, raising her glass of wine.

"Shhhh, you're going to wake Isla up. You exploite me to put her to bed, and you're ruining all my work."

"Isla doesn't need any noise to wake up those last times, Elena complains. . "There are many things that wake her up : The monsters, the thirst, to want to see mom.

"Poor mama," Ceci smirked."

A comfortable silence settled between the two sisters.

"Do you want to sleep here?" Elena offered. "I'll take the crumbs off the couch."

"Yes, why not,", Ceci replied, grateful for spending a night away from home.

Her phone beeped again:

"Christina is lucky to have you. You are a good nurse, even if you think like a nun half the time. Good night."

Ceci smiled. One thing was certain, she wanted to be reconciled with Ingrid.