“Mommy, someone's at the door,” Bryan shouted as he ran his toy truck around the living room carpet.
“Okay, just a sec.” Samantha left the broom and the pieces of chinaware on the floor and grabbed a towel to dry her hands with. As she approached the door, she passed by Bryan and whispered, “Who is it?”
He didn't answer. He was too busy crawling around and getting the toy up the furniture. “Vroom! Vroom!”
She rolled her eyes and let out a smile. Then, she leveled her eye on the keyhole. She saw a hand, holding a bouquet of lilies. Then, she slowly leaned her ear on the door and asked, “Who is it?”
“Uh, I have something for Mrs. Mercado.”
She thought it was a man's voice, so she peeped into the keyhole again to confirm. This time, she saw part of the face of the man. She was not familiar with him, but she knew in that instant the reason why he was there and what the flowers were for. When she sensed that the guy was about to look at the keyhole too, she looked away and walked back to the kitchen. “She's not here,” she yelled.
Perplexed, Bryan watched his mother stride away. When she was gone, he glanced at the bottom of the door. He saw two shadows moving about. Then, the truck continued trekking the room.
“Uh, I'm sorry? Ma'am?”
Nobody answered back. Silence befuddled the man. When he rested his ear on the door, he heard faint sounds he could not decipher.
“Hello? Mrs. Mercado?”
“She said she's not here!”
The man got shocked. It was a child who bellowed the answer he was hoping not to hear again. Then, he realized that it was a bit strange, what he heard from the child. He was about to knock at the door, but he supposed that it was no use calling the name of the woman he was looking for any longer. So, he decided to just leave the lilies at the doorstep and slowly walk away, down the hallway of the apartment.
Samantha reached for the neckties hanging by the door of the closet. She took them out of their hangers and threw them to the bed one by one. She also pulled out a couple of jackets, pairs of pants, a few long-sleeved shirts, and some boxers. Next, she bent down and got a black leather suitcase at the bottom of the closet. Opening the luggage, she sat on the bed and put the clothes inside. She didn't mind them getting rumpled, she just wanted to get it over with. She was about to finish when she was alarmed by the shriek of the kettle. Almost at panic, she dropped everything to the bed and ran for the stove.
After turning off the flame, she picked up the kettle and poured some of the hot water into two mugs with tea bags. When she finished, she paused and gazed intently at the mugs, still holding the kettle up. Her eyes closed as she let out a sigh. She then replaced what she was holding to the stove and threw the contents of one of the mugs onto the sink. As she sat beside the dining table, she stared blankly at the other mug. Her eyes followed the movement of the steam, then they turned to the vase of lilies at the corner. Suddenly, she heard someone knocking at the door. Instinctively, she heeded the call and headed for the door.
She didn't make a sound as she approached. She had to know first who the person was, if it was the same guy as the one who came yesterday. When she peeked into the keyhole, she got surprised when she saw a different guy, holding with two hands a few boxes of white chocolates and a small white envelope. Then she was taken aback when a hand blocked the hole and hit the door a few times.
“Who is it?”
“Is Mrs. Mercado th-?”
“No, she's not here.”
She was about to return to the kitchen when the man said, “Ma'am, can you, uh, please open up? I just have something for-”
“I said she's not here.”
She stepped back a couple of times and watched the silhouette at the bottom of the door. She noticed that the man left something on the floor, perhaps the boxes he was holding. Then, a white envelope slid through to her feet. She picked it up and peeped through the hole again. The man was already walking down the hallway, so she returned to the kitchen.
