The Turnover [EDITING]

Chapter 3

“Bullshit.”

Those were the exact words that came out of Eloisa as soon as I finished telling the story.

“Paul never told me anything,” she continued. “He told me he gave you the days off because you got sick.”

“Well, I did come down with a cold the day after that,” I answered. “So you can’t say I lied about being sick.”

She took a drink from her bottle of water. “No wonder he picks on you so much.”

“He picks on me every time,” I conceded. “Even before the wedding, he was picking on me.”

“I should have seen it coming.”

I looked out of the window as the sunlight began to fade. “I can’t have dinner with you.”

“Why not?”

“Tita Violet’s worried about me,” I replied. “She thinks I spend too much time with you at the bakery.”

“Does she know about you and Paul?”

I would never dare to tell my aunt about that kiss. “All she knows is that I work for him. And that he’s very strict.”

“Paul is not a horrible person,” Eloisa answered. “Yes, he’s a hot-headed control freak, but he is not a heartless bastard.”

Easy for her to say – she was his sister.

“But the biggest problem with Paul is that he does not know how to forgive himself,” she continued. “That’s part of the reason why he’s so controlling – he has to take responsibility for every mistake that happens, whether it’s with the business or with his family. And do you know what the sad part is, Monica?”

And there was always a sad part.

“He was not always this way. Never.”

Now she had my attention. “You mean Paul wasn’t born with a stick up his ass?”

“He has never been this way,” Eloisa repeated. “There used to be a time when he was warm and affectionate. Even when he was in business school, he wasn’t so ruthless.”

It was one thing for Eloisa to talk about Paul. Expecting me to understand him was another story.

“Anyway, my point here is that you don’t want to end up like him. You don’t have to fuss over every detail because you can’t afford to make a mistake. You don’t have to take sides. You have to learn to forgive yourself. Then you’ll learn to let go and live.”

“I see.” Then, because I couldn’t resist: “She must have messed up his life, didn’t she?”

“Excuse me?”

“Was there a girl involved?”

That was the moment when Eloisa’s phone rang.

“That must be Sean,” she answered. “I’ll try to get a cab for you and George.”

“But you haven’t told me…”

“Go home, Monica.” And she left me alone in the kitchen.

“You shouldn’t have asked about the girl,” said Tita Violet, as she heaped a cupful of rice on my plate. “You always get ahead of yourself.”

Next to Eloisa – and perhaps more so – I trusted my aunt for her advice on many things. I still didn’t want to tell Tita Violet about kissing Paul, but I did tell her the parts where he argued with Eloisa and complimented about my hair.

As usual, she had something to say about the situation.

“All problems with men do not have to be about a girl,” said Tita Violet, punctuating her talking points with a fork. “This Paul situation sounded to me like it was something deep within the family, something that nobody likes to talk about.”

“There was a situation where Eloisa had a near-nervous breakdown in Singapore,” I offered.

“Really? I always thought that she was a nice girl. But she is not as bitter as Paul. Maybe it’s because of the boyfriend… what’s his name? Shane?”

“Sean.”

A retired math teacher with an ear for gossip: that was Violeta Hilario-Roxas for you. “You showed me the pictures. Que guapo.” She sliced up the fish fillet on her plate. “But no. I think that something else has happened to this family. It cannot be the parents. They look happy and healthy to me.”

“I still think it’s a girl,” I answered, spooning egg-drop soup over my cup of rice. “You always said that men do not take breakups easily.”

She began to sing “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” in her best soprano voice.

“No girlfriends, plural.”

“And he has never married?”

As much as I loved my aunt, her line of inquiry did not sound diplomatic. “Like I said, Tita Violet, nobody has mentioned anything.”

 “Then he must be gay.”

I nearly dropped my spoon. “Tita Violet!”

“My dear, you keep forgetting how the gays are treated in Philippine society. Maybe he is angry and ashamed because he cannot show his true self to people, and must protect his sisters from the shame.”

This was not exactly a good time to tell Tita Violet that Paul was definitely attracted to women.

“And besides, he said something about your hair. A non-gay would never notice your hair.”

“Tita, my hair has had brown highlights for a month now. Paul has been in and out of the new branch almost every day.”

“Basta,” she added, feeling self-assured. “Remind me that I should meet this Paul of yours when you are not too busy with the bakery.”

Paul was never “my Paul.” He would never be “my Paul.” And I was going to make sure that it stayed that way.

Later that night, after I gave George his kibble, I went up to the TV room, where Tita Violet was watching her teleserye.

“Look at this,” she said, blinking her eyes. “They are lovers who have always been in love, all this time, and now she is telling him that she never loved him…”

“But he is still married to his wife,” I reminded her. “And his daughter is in love with her adopted nephew…”

“How did you know, darling?”

“I guessed.” I sat down with her on the couch as the show went on commercial break. “Tita Violet, I have to ask you something.”

“What is it now, Monica?”

I took a deep breath. “The Carreons want me to have dinner with them.”

She nodded. “When is this?”

“They have been asking me for a while now,” I answered. “I told them that I need to ask your permission first.”

“You spend too much time with that family already.”

“I know, but I haven’t been able to spend time with them outside of work. How about Wednesday?”

“Why Wednesday?

“You said you were on Mother Butler duty for the Healing Mass on Wednesday night.”

“Okay.” She wrapped her thin arms around me and kissed me on the forehead. “Monica, dear, what will I do without you?”

I snuggled up to her as soon as the commercial break ended. “Everything will be fine, Tita Violet. Now, where are we now in this show?”