Veronica Ward

*this story contains a few swear words*

She was sitting restlessly in the restaurant. Her phone kept beeping, and she tried to politely decline each call without slamming it against the table. 

Why was it so difficult for her colleagues to respect her time off? Yes, it was the middle of Friday afternoon, but she worked extra hours this past week to make up for leaving early. 

As she was figuring out her calls, someone put a hand on her shoulder. She turns around to find Ronnie. To others, she was known as Veronica Ward. 

It was that Ronnie with dark eyes full of expectations, and a sort of Mona Lisa face. Her face had this sort of half-a-smile, but one had to look closely to try to figure out if the smile was actually there. 

Margo gets up and stands in front of her. She puts her hands on Ronnie’s shoulders and takes a look at her from bottom to top. She wants to make sure she got the right Ronnie. Nothing seemed to be missing. 

“Did you figure me out yet? Do you want me to turn around?” Ronnie says scoffingly.

Margo smiles. “I do not think I will ever figure you out” 

Ronnie’s face becomes more serious as she hears that. Her face acquires almost an alarmed expression. Without having to say anything, they hug each other. 

Having her face stuffed into Veronica’s hair, Margo found out that Veronica’s ability to smell heavenly on any occasion remained intact.

Once they break away from the hug, they are uncomfortable about the unexpected and strong display of affection. 

“Uhm, do sit down please,” Margo says with almost teared-up eyes. 

“You did not wait for me long, did you?” 

“No, it's fine. I was here only for a few minutes before you arrived” Margo replies. 

“Right. Once I came in, I could not find you. Do you know how I noticed you?” 

Margo raises her head, and her eyebrows, with a smile “How?”

“You are rarely mentally present in public spaces. I saw you working on your phone, almost talking to yourself. You were always so inside of your head, so inside of your thoughts, I am so glad that I got to witness a replay of that behavior. If it wasn't for that, the bun would not go unnoticed” Margo laughs. 

The waiter comes over “Did you ladies decide on what you will be having today?” 

“A macchiato for me” 

“One for me as well” 

“A bottle of water with those?”

“Yeah sure” Ronnie responds. Knowing that tone of voice, she wanted him out of there. 

He speedily leaves.

“What bring you back?” Margo asks.

“Work does”

“But, you would not come back on your own, right?” 

Ronnie smiles and looks down at the table.

“Probably not” 

Margo desperately wanted to fire multiple questions at her, but she knows she has to be patient. She did not want Ronnie to run away. 

“What does New York City have to offer that is so important and so powerful to lure Veronica back in?” 

She wants to reply you. There is a short, almost unnoticeable pause before Ronnie replies. During that short moment of silence, she is looking into Margo’s eyes, rethinking her answer, and trying to control the temptation to tell her everything at once. 

“Many things. This city always had some magic to it” She sighs in relief, but on the inside.  

“Did you ever come back after graduation?” Margo instantly asks. 

She wanted to reply no, but she could not do it. She set up this meeting in order not to lie to her anymore. To even things out with her. Lying was not the way of doing this. Ronnie knew that Margo had countless questions on her mind, and she did come here with the task to answer all of them. 

The waiter comes over. 

“Your macchiatos ladies” The act of him serving them the coffee, seemed like an eternity to Veronica. She thought that she might witness the day of judgment from how slow he seemed to do what he did. 

He finally puts down the bottle of water. 

“Is there anything el—”

“Thank you so much!” 

Margo smiles and puts some sugar in her coffee. 

“A very efficient waiter” Margo takes a sip of her coffee. 

Ronnie laughs. “I wanted to pull it out of his hands and do it myself” Ronnie takes a sip of her coffee as well, but without the additional sugar. 

“Anyways, I did come back here after graduation. I actually came here on multiple occasions. No successful business survives without seeing NYC once in a while” 

Family business, Margo thinks to herself. She nods in understanding. Ronnie stirs her coffee thoughtfully. 

“Makes sense. So, I assume your career is going in the right direction” 

Of course, it is. Whose wouldn’t if everything was served on a platter? Ronnie thinks in frustration. 

“Yeah, it's been enjoyable and challenging. The best part is traveling the world”

“Except the part of the world that consists of the island of Manhattan…” Margo sips her coffee. 

Margo retained her playfulness. 

“You did not change, did you?” 

“It is stronger than me, I am sorry.” 

“Well, at least you have grown. You are way more patient. So, how are you?” 

Margo puts her cup down and says “I am great. My job is a good part of what I imagined it to be, and I get to help people. The enviroment is also a lot of fun, and—” Her phone beeps. She half-slams it against the table. 

She breathes in and out and then turns her phone around. Stares at it worryingly for a few seconds, and then whispers “fuck”. She sighs deeply. A type of sigh that was building up for a few days. 

Ronnie caresses her on the arm. “You okay?” 

“The timing was just perfect, was it not?” She smiles at Ronnie. Looks down at Ronnie’s hand. Ronnie uncomfortably takes her hand back. 

Margo closes her eyes for another deep breath out and then opens them back, firing them straight at Ronnie. 

“I would not be surprised if you set it up” 

“Maybe, I did, you never know” Ronnie winks at her, and slurps her coffee as if she really did. 

That sentence, even though meant as a joke, made Margo keep her gaze on Ronnie. When it came to Ronnie’s character she felt as if she knew everything, but when it came to her actual intentions or what she did for a living, she felt as if she knew nothing. 

Margo breaks the silence with “Anyways, the thing is that they have been calling me ever since I left the hospital. We got a lot of interns, and they struggle with navigating them through the hospital. I am not even a manager, but yet they all call me. I might ask for a raise and get promoted. If I am going to have additional responsibilities, I want additional money for it.” 

The phone beeps yet again. Ronnie takes it from her hand and turns it off. 

She takes a glass that the snail-like slow waiter brought over and pours water into it. Passes it over to Margo. 

“Thank you” 

She gulps the glass. 

“Yeah, you definitely should. You were always a hard worker” Margo sarcastically smiles at that comment. Why did she feel like a cat that just learned how to use the restroom every single time Ronnie would compliment her? 

“So, how are your parents?” Margo asks, with her upper lip still covered with a bit of water, from how fast she drank it. Ronnie smiles at that sympathetically but does not look forward to answering the question.

“They are doing well. I do not enjoy seeing them grow old, but what can you do” 

Mister and Misses Ward. Even after so many years, Margo can clearly see their facial expressions and hear their voices. She remembers that they were a bit difficult to talk to, and whenever she did, there was this strong urge to get herself out of their company. 

It was hard for Margo to accept that these cold and dull people could raise someone so warm and so empathic as Ronnie. 

“Cool. Do you see them often?”

“It depends. If they are on the way, I give them a visit. But, they either come over, or I go visit them for the holidays” 

She never talked of them as her parents, but rather as people who happened to be a part of her life. All answers regarding her parents were just said for the sake of respecting the posed question. 

“Where are they now?”

“In Europe” 

“Aaaw, that’s sweet. Where exactly?”

“Madrid, Spain” 

“No shit, I thought Madrid, Estonia” They laugh at that. 

She did not want to push. Her parents were just blah. The usual warmth that Ronnie would project would disappear whenever the issue of her parents was brought up. It was almost as if she would acquire those same characteristics of theirs, that she despised so much. 

Margo always assumed they were just distant, and that was the story. That was the story of most parent-child relationships she knew. 

“So, I assume they did not change much” 

Ronnie smiled. “No, they did not. Same old, dark-haired misses and mister Ward” 

They were all dark-haired, with big black/brown eyes. 

“I hear people with extremely dark hair tend to get gray faster than others” 

Ronnie raises her eyebrows “Do not tell me that you, a doctor, believe in myths” 

“I do not, but myths are fun. But, do they have any?”

“A few here and there. My dad does, but my mum dyes hers, you know her, she would rather get strangled than see her hair turn white” 

“That seems very like them” 

Awkward silence for a minute or so. They both look around the restaurant.

Margo is slowly getting irritated.

Frankly, fuck it. Let me break the ice. 

“But, anyways, why did you call me?” 

“Does there have to be a reason for a meetup between two old friends?” Here it goes.

Margo scoffs and rolls her eyes. 

“Listen…” 

She massages the temples and then rubs her eyes. 

“My week was very long. Since you texted me, I have sacrificed a lot to be able to be here with you right now. Since last Friday, I have made numerous calls, making sure that I give everyone a heads-up that I will be out most of this Friday. A lot of people are dependent on me.

I have patients who show up at that hospital because they know they will be taken care of, or their loved ones will, who are counting on me and a bunch of other people, and who know that their hard-saved money will not go to waste. My irresponsibility will come at a price of human life, and not at a loss of a Chinese investor, of however the fuck it goes” 

She continues staring her down, infuriated, waiting for a reply.

“I am sorry Margo. Not just for the sudden text message after eleven years, but for everything. For leaving, and not telling you anything about it. There are no excuses, and I am deeply sorry” 

Margo looks at her as if she is still trying to decipher her. Right now, every single word that came out of Ronnie’s mouth irritated her. Everything about her seemed like one big lie, and she always had to second-guess herself with Veronica. 

“Is that all you got for me, huh? Not only did you leave, but you left me on my own. First, you made me completely dependent on you, without giving me the time or the space to grow as a person who would not need you so desperately. You fucked me up. Do you know how many hours and days I spent questioning what I did so wrong that you left so abruptly? I thought I fucked up so badly, that you had no choice but to leave. You did not even call me once, or warn me about this mysterious and out of the fucking blue departure. I somehow tracked you online, through fucking Linkedin” Ronnie looks at her in guilt, and they laugh. 

Margo puts her head in her hands and looks at Ronnie. “Fucking Linkedin, who would have thought I would come across you on Linkedin”

Ronnie replies, without taking her eyes off Margo “I do not know if one can call that success, but I love it when you open up. I do not know what is it that I do, as you are so drawn and silent in front of others, but once we are all alone, it is a completely different version of you”

Ronnie looks at her, with a look of wanting to see more of that, and with regret of missing out on Margo.

Margo never talked in front of others. She was mostly the listener. Others would open up to her, and tell her about their most bizarre stories, or thoughts, and yet, she would just listen without being judgemental. She was a listener and would stir up the conversation by posing extra questions. The questions were positive reinforcement, and the tongues of the interlocutors would gain additional speed and smoothness. She would study their expressions, the whys, and the ifs, and it never bore her. 

But, upon meeting Ronnie, roles reversed. She was the active talker, and Ronnie was the listener. 

The time has come, has it not? Ronnie thinks to herself. With a heavy burden, she says “Once again, I am sorry for what I did. To make up for that, I open myself to you. What do you want to know?” 

Everything, Margo thought to herself as she doubted everything about Veronica’s life.

“Are your parents really in Madrid?”

Ronnie takes a deep sigh and closes her eyes for a split second. She had been preparing herself for this moment, and she had already learned the danger of revealing the truth. 

“They are not” 

Margo leans back in her chair and looks around. A thoughtful gaze. A gaze that tells of regret, and disappointment. 

“Where are they then? The rest of the Wards? In Estonia?” 

“I do not know” 

“That is no answer” 

“I do not know where they are because I have not seen them in over ten years” 

Margo blinks a few times. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean what I just said. I do not know where they are” 

“Help me understand then” Her warmth and softness come back. She puts her hand on Ronnie’s. Ronnie is surprised by that gesture but does not mind it. 

“Did you get into a fight, or what? I know that you were never close with them”  

“No, it is not that” The pressure in her head builds up, and her heart feels as if it will catapult itself out of her chest. She somehow continues “They are strangers, who happened to be my parents” Ronnie takes a glass of water that the idiot-like waiter brought over. She takes a big gulp. 

“Ronnie what… I do not understand” 

“Margo, I shared a house with them for two years, and that is how I met them” 

Margo looks at her in confusion. 

“Margo they are not my parents” 

“You mean, not your biological parents” She knew how hard Margo’s brain was working. She could smell it boiling across the table. 

“No, I was not even adopted” 

“Ronnie, what are you talking about?” 

“Stop…” Ronnie feels an upcoming migraine. Her mind pulsates so hard that it is affecting her sight. She feels her cheeks burning. 

“Margo” Ronnie squeezes her hand and comes closer to her. Margo, for the very first time, encounters frightened Veronica, with sweaty palms. Ronnie whispers into her ear: “My name is not Veronica” 

Even though this came as an intense shock – one that makes the whole room flip upside down, and where everything one has ever known is falling apart – it was not difficult for her mind to accept this as the ultimate truth. As it confirmed one thing she suspected for over ten years: She did not know anything about this person. Not even something as simple as her name.