Read Online When Tito Loved Clara by Jon Michaud - Free Book Online Page A

him.
    â€œDid you retire?”
    She laughed. “I'm not
that
old. I'm taking a sabbatical. I need tolook after my mother,” she gestured in the direction of the living room. “It's a full-time job now.”
    â€œWhy didn't you move her to Oradell? Is it OK for me to ask that?”
    She gave the mildest of shrugs, no more than a wince of her bony shoulder. “My husband refused,” she said.
    Tito nodded. He placed the storage key on the table between them. It was tagged with her name and the unit's location in the Cruz Brothers warehouse. Ms. Almonte did not look at the key, maintaining eye contact with him. “I know why you came back,” she said. “So let's not waste time on the survey. My mother will wake up soon and I won't be able to talk to you.”
    Tito nodded again. “Are you still in touch with Clara?” he asked.
    â€œNo,” she said. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
    â€œWhen did you last hear from her?”
    â€œIt's been a long time,” she said. “Not since her first year of college. And you?”
    â€œAround the same time,” he said.
    She ate a spoonful of the
sancocho
and seemed to consider what he had said. “It's a shame,” she began.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThat she didn't go to Cornell.”
    â€œUhh—yes,” said Tito. He stirred the
sancocho
with his spoon, steering a piece of carrot around the bowl.
    â€œI'm sorry,” she said. “I see that I'm upsetting you. I didn't mean to do that.”
    â€œNone of the other Word Club girls know where she is?” asked Tito.
    She shook her head. “They weren't as close as you might think. I guess Clara's whereabouts remain a mystery.” She looked at his left hand and he felt himself being assessed anew. “I take it you're not married now?”
    â€œNo,” he said.
    She raised her eyebrows. “A girlfriend, at least? Surely. You're a handsome fellow, after all.”
    â€œNo,” he said, looking up from his bowl. “Not right now.”
    She nodded once, a kind of directive. “You should eat your
sancocho,
”she said. “Before it gets cold.”
    A FTERWARD, TITO GOT in his car and drove across the bridge. It was rush hour and traffic was heavy. By the time he reached Oradell, it was dark. He parked on the street and climbed the steps, but instead of going in, he went around the side of the house, past the graves of the deceased pets and the shed where he kept the lawn equipment. He stopped at one of the back windows, hoping to spy his wife and children at play—a golden moment of domestic happiness that would affirm everything. But all he could see was a middle-aged man eating dinner alone in a room where the art had recently been removed from the walls.

Clara
    The envelope must have come in the mail while she was at the airport—big as a kitchen bulletin board, with DO NOT BEND stamped in red letters beneath the address. She'd been expecting it, dreading it. Thomas had left it for her on the sideboard in the front hall and it was the first thing she saw as she and Deysei entered the house.
    â€œWhat's that?” said her niece.
    â€œIt's nothing,” said Clara. “Just some medical records. Why don't you go upstairs and unpack? Make yourself at home. I'll call you when dinner's ready.”
    â€œOK, Tía,” said Deysei agreeably, and climbed the steps to the sanctuary of her new room.
    Clara was still reeling from her niece's revelation about Raúl, still reeling from seeing Tito Moreno in the airport. She decided she wasn't ready to look at the envelope's contents. She needed a few minutes to compose herself. The television noise coming up through the floorboards told her that Guillermo was safely in his cave; through the dining room window, she could see Thomas at the grill on the patio preparing dinner. She left the envelope and busied herself setting the table, seeking