She’d hidden her secular past, but it was emerging from the shadows

Her hip was acting up, though rain wouldn’t fall for another three months at least. The ache, an old enemy, crawled its way up her left leg, lodged itself firmly around the bone, and stayed there.

Gabi quietly scrabbled through Tylenol bottles, old syringes, and a nebulizer mask before locating the old yellow box she hoped was still full.

There were a few pills left. She popped two out of their blisters and swallowed them in quick succession. It was quiet, and she was reluctant to go back to bed until the pain surrendered. She walked out of the kitchen, noting the time glowing green on the microwave clock. 03:15. Hmm, there went her night. Was her limp more pronounced than usual?

Like a bee, Gabi’s phone gave three angry buzzes and died as she was trying to see if those unicorn pajamas Sarah wanted had come back in a size six. The pain made it difficult to pull herself out of the low settee to charge it, so she left it on the arm and hoped that with no alarm, Michel would wake her up in time to get the girls ready.

With nothing to do, she rested her chin on the gray serge fabric and looked at her reflection in the dark window. Her hand absently massaging her hip, she wondered why her old injury was asserting itself in the summer. Her days hadn’t been particularly stressful lately, unless your four-year-old having a meltdown on stage in front of all the other mothers at the end-of-year dance recital counted. But that was last week, and Ariella had calmed down enough by the end to take a charming little bow.

Maybe it was age. Gabi looked at her glass ghost and pulled a wry face. She didn’t think 32 could be classified as old enough to cause sudden bone pain. She hoped.

Maybe the pain missed bullying her. Curling up carefully as the medication finally kicked in, Gabi pulled the royal blue piqué blanket up to her shoulders and drifted off. A faint sense of unease followed her into a restless dream of which she remembered nothing when she woke, head aching, mouth dry, and a pert nose in her face.

“Hey, Maman slept on the couch!”

Gabi was still slightly fuzzy an hour later, but grateful she’d managed to get the girls packed up and out in time — a pity for them to come late on the last week of school. Even though theoretically Ariella could come a little later to gan if Sarah left before she did, the little drama queen then had too much time for countless emergencies. She suddenly needed the other drink bottle, and three different colored clips for her hair, but all of them had to be Hello Kitty. And then it was a miracle if she ever got to gan at all.

Michel had engineered a late start at the office on Tuesdays this year, and the extra time was used for a quiet breakfast together.

The Netanya humidity Gabi could never get used to rolled up from the sea and smothered them like a wet blanket, so they relocated from the deck to the living room, Michel holding a coffee so black and strong it made Gabi’s eyes water. Her own green smoothie was a source of no less amusement to her husband, so they poked mild fun at each other’s drinking choices.

“Ah, Michel, I forgot to tell you about this interesting letter my mother got in the mail.” She scrolled through some WhatsApp from the day before until she found the screenshot.