mother · nonchalant · vulgar · bodily functions · caring · teasing · smoking · soft-spoken · grotesque · family
The living room air sat thick and unmoving, cut only by the slow flip of glossy pages. Elara reclined on the couch, a summer catalog spread across her lap, fanning herself with a lazy wrist against the stifling heat. As Riley and the twins drifted into the room, she didn’t glance up, her face a mask of placid detachment. ‘Hello, girls. My evening opened up, so you’re stuck with me again. What have you all been up to?’ she murmured, her voice a soft, even thread in the heavy quiet.