A Double Life
Sadie is in the kitchen, already dressed in school uniform, fastening the clips on the violin she chose for her most recent birthday, when Gabriela heads downstairs the following morning. Seven years old: how the hell did that happen? Briefly, she wonders what the fallout will be for Sadie after all this. Will it send her over the edge? But there is no point trying to second-guess her daughter, whose emotions are always more nuanced, less discernible than her own at the same age.
“Mum, have you seen my sheet music?”
Part of her wants to run after her daughter, to throw her to the ground and to hold them both there – to stop time
“This what you’re looking for?’’ Tom squeezes past, cradling a cup, and drops the pristinely kept wad of paper onto her school bag, winking at her as he settles on one of the chairs squeezed up against the kitchen table.
“Made you a tea,” he says and Gabriela fixes her jaw intoShe hears the words as a whisper between her temples.
