BooksBarbecue
Back All the Water in the World
Chapters (62)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. PART I
  4. Eve
  5. 1
  6. Maddy
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. Eve
  12. 6
  13. Maddy
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. Eve
  19. 11
  20. Maddy
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. PART II
  26. Eve
  27. 16
  28. 17
  29. 18
  30. 19
  31. Maddy
  32. 20
  33. 21
  34. Eve
  35. 22
  36. 23
  37. Maddy
  38. 24
  39. 25
  40. Eve
  41. 26
  42. 27
  43. PART III
  44. Eve
  45. 28
  46. 29
  47. 30
  48. 31
  49. 32
  50. 33
  51. 34
  52. 35
  53. 36
  54. 37
  55. 38
  56. 39
  57. Coda
  58. 40
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. Reading Group Guide
  61. About the Author
  62. Copyright

“I mean a real one. That people take care of because it’s fat and cute.”

“You’re not fat,” she said, running her fingers down my spine, light as light could be; any harder and I’d be throwing up again. “And you’re not cute. You’re beautiful.”

The blindness of mothers!

“Maybe I used to be.”

She put her face near mine and whispered: “People like us are supposed to cry. What would we do if we couldn’t cry?”

“Okay, but why do we have to be the ones?”

I had her there. She kissed me in lots of places and left the room on some excuse or other before she started to cry, thereby disproving her point that crying was nothing to be ashamed of.

Little by little I got better until one day I was sitting up in bed, maybe not a shiny new penny, but not a grimy nickel either, when with a lurch of the stomach I remembered Antonio. Once my mother had delivered her lunch tray and gone back downstairs, I booted up my laptop and scrolled down all the boring ads and school announcements. Outside it was drizzling, but in here a giant bar of sunlight fell across my screen. Antonio Jorge Romero. There he was, waiting patiently in my in-box. Three weeks! Maybe he thought I had lost interest. Maybe he thought I was ghosting him. With a swift glance toward the mirror and another toward the door, my heart bumping like that of some elated creature who wanted to believe again in the universe and what it could deliver, I clicked on my father’s name.

Dear Maddy,

Naturally I was very, very surprised to get your email. It’s hard to know what to say and how to say it. It’s true your mother and I were together in Washington in 1994. I left America the summer I graduated. You probably know that Eve and I have not been in contact since that time. Your mother is a wonderful person. I have thought about her a lot over the years. That is all I can say for now. Thank you for writing.

Antonio

OMG. Wow. When I saw you in my inbox I could not believe my eyes! I took a while to answer because I’ve been away. Most girls my age are on Facebook all the time, but I still use email like an old person (not that you’re old). I think it’s more personal and I don’t always want everyone to know my business. I hope it’s okay to email you again.