She looked at him. Her eyes were dry. Now the CEO had reasserted itself or something stronger than the CEO had the specific steel of a woman who had learned very young to keep moving. But underneath it, he could see everything she was carrying. I don't know how to do this, she said quietly.
Just to him. Yes, you do. He said, "You know exactly how to do this. You go and you be with her and you let your sister hold you up when you need it. And you call me when you need to hear my voice and you come back when it's done."
He paused. That's all. She looked at him. That's all. He said again.
She nodded. She got her coat. She stopped at the door and looked back at him the way she had looked back in the parking lot that first night. And he was standing in the corridor of her company, looking at her the way he had stood on the steps of his apartment, steady, present, not going anywhere. "I'll call tonight," she said.
"I'll answer," he said. She left. He turned back to the conference room. He went in. He ran the meeting.
She called at 9:47 that night. He answered on the first ring. "Tell me," he said, she told him. Her mother had gone quietly. Early that afternoon with both daughters in the room, she told him about the last thing her mother had said, which was directed at Claudette, but meant for both of them, something about not wasting time being right when you could be using that time, being together.
She told him that she and Claudette had sat in the hospital room for 2 hours afterward and talked about things they hadn't talked about in 2 years and that it hadn't been easy and it hadn't been resolved and also it had begun which was the most you could ask for sometimes. She told him that her mother had asked for him near the end for me. She said she said is the kitchen man with you in spirit? Victoria's voice was quiet. I told her yes.
He didn't say anything for a moment. I told her, "Yes," Victoria repeated. "Because it was true. You were there the whole time. I was there.
You were there." He said, "I meant to be." A long silence. "I'm going to be here through the weekend," she said. Claudette and I have arrangements to make.
"Okay, I miss North Paulina Street." She said, "He said it'll be here." And Amara, she made you a card. He said she made it an hour ago, she said to tell you. And these are her exact words that she made it blue because blue is for deep water and deep water is where the light matters most.