Loose Ends

Chapter 20: Reflections

Ruben was quietly eating his lunch in his office, his mind drifting back to his conversation with Amy last Thursday and his dream about a more innocent, carefree Adrian. I've always regretted not being there for my daughter and there's nothing I can do to get those sixteen years back. All I can do is be a better man now. As for Amy, I don't even know how to begin apologizing to her. Maybe I shouldn't yet. Maybe I need to get my own house in order first. He didn't have any more cases that afternoon and the paperwork in his inbox didn't technically need to be filed until the middle of next week. He buzzed Julia.

"Yes, Mr. Enriquez?"

"Julia, I'm taking a personal day. Please forward all of my calls to my voicemail."

"Yes, Mr. Enriquez." Collecting his briefcase, Ruben headed home. Cindy was home for the next week and they had been having family dinners each night, taking advantage of this break in her schedule. She was in the kitchen having lunch herself when Ruben came in. She smiled and greeted her husband with a kiss.

"What are you doing home so early?"

"Couldn't concentrate."

"Oh? Rough case?"

"No," he said, loosening his tie, removing his suit jacket and joining her at the kitchen table.

"So then what's on your mind?" Ruben looked at his wife, not sure how to say what he wanted to say and so he opted for the upfront approach. Let's just rip off the Band-Aid and deal with it.

"Our family's mistakes and bad decisions." That got Cindy's attention and she dropped the sandwich she had been holding moments ago to stare at her husband, not sure she'd heard him correctly.

"Excuse me!?" Ruben rubbed the back of his neck in an attempt to ease some of the tension building there and continued looking at his wife.

"Last Thursday Amy Juergens came to see me; she scheduled an appointment and everything." Cindy's eyes got wide, filled with surprise and just a little bit of panic.

"What did she want to talk to you about, or are you not allowed to tell me?"

"It was a personal matter and it concerns our family so yes, I can tell you. She came to ask me some questions about the three of us." Now Cindy was curious and on the defensive. She knew she hadn't made the best choices in life but she wasn't about to let anyone talk down about her because of it.

"What kind of questions?"

"Well, for starters, she wanted to know why we bought a house next door to a girl we knew our daughter didn't get along with and a man you had had an affair with." Cindy chocked on the iced tea she had ben sipping. Ruben patted her on the back until she could speak again.

"She WHAT!?" Cindy asked, more surprised than upset.

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, and I didn't have a good enough explanation for why we did either of those things. All I told her was that we had hoped she and Adrian would work out their differences on their own and that since the affair had ended and everyone had moved on, we didn't see a problem living next door to George."

"So she's still holding some kind of grudge against us?"

"No." Cindy looked at him confused. Ruben had been dissecting his conversation with Amy and realized something. "Amy was just trying to figure out if she could trust her next door neighbors or if we had intentionally set out to make her life more difficult."

"Wait, how exactly does she figure we made her life more difficult?"

"Cindy, did you ever stop to think about how Anne might feel about having you as a next door neighbor?" Cindy blanched for a moment. Honestly the thought had never occurred to her and she shook her head. "Well apparently Amy had to watch her mother's reaction as she occasionally crossed paths with the 'other woman' that helped end her marriage." Ruben could see that Cindy was about to defend herself and he put up his hand, motioning for her to stay quiet. "Amy only said that you played a role, she doesn't blame you for her parent's divorce. And honestly I never thought about it either. I was so focused on making sure Adrian and Amy got along for John and Ricky's sake that I forgot about Anne and Ashley. They were affected by the affair and divorce too and by buying the house we were subtly but constantly reminding them about it." Shame washed over Cindy's face and she sighed.