He cut her off quickly, acknowledging that she might never shut up if he didn’t, delving further into the issue of Mary’s bruises. Lily claimed she didn’t know anything, turning her focus back to now chopping carrots. She must’ve been satisfied with Hector’s level of attention.

Daniel chose this moment to stomp into the kitchen, his new and suddenly routine act of being a sullen teenager serving its purpose of annoying the hell out of Hector. He snatched a piece of carrot off of the chopping board, ignoring his mother’s question about his homework.

Hector decided to follow his son’s example and chose the opportune moment to exit the rather stressful situation with his once beloved wife. Moving into the living room, he drank in his all too familiar surroundings.

The old fashioned TV that Lily wouldn’t allow Hector to upgrade, no matter how much he begged or saved, was the first thing to catch his eye. In the end, there was always some reason to spend the money on the kids or some seemingly unnecessary upgrade to the kitchen or master room. I mean, who the hell needed a pasta arm? Despite the modern kitchen layout, the couch was practically an antique, something that Lily had gotten from her mother. Something that Hector despised. It was dead center of the room, directed at the TV with a mismatched armchair to the right of it that had, over time, become Hector’s seat of choice. The small end table in between the furniture that had cost far too much for the purpose it served and the coffee table, that was starting to fall apart far before its time. Mary had used to love to smash her Play-Doh all over the smooth, once black, surface of the table before cutting shapes out with special cutters. Hector admired one particularly distinct star shape from when she was about 3. Scattered about the room on shelves that weren’t dusted as often as they needed to be were pictures. Family portraits that smiled back at Hector mockingly, displaying a time that was supposed to be perfect.

One of the pictures was just over 2 and a half years old, the frame starting to come apart due to its cheap nature. Hector still had the chubby face of a child and both children were grinning widely. Lily looked tired but pretty, her hair just a bit too unnaturally blonde and her skin too thin, too paper-like. This was the peak of Hector’s alcoholism. His coup de gras before she threatened to leave him.

Hector had known about the photography session Lily had set up weeks in advance yet he had chosen to disregard it, much like he did with everything else in his life other than work, especially during his drinking binges. When the time rolled around for the shoot to start, Hector had hunkered down at the local watering hole and ordered another double whiskey on the rocks. Neat was his preferred choice but iced whiskey went down just a tad easier. In this case, he needed to make sure he was incapacitated. The thought of sitting in front of a green screen, dealing with two begrudging kids and an overly upset wife because she couldn’t decide on which background to use for the perfect family portrait. Yet, in the end, Hector’s guilt gave in and arrived at the shoot exactly 17 minutes late. Checking his watch when he walked into a building had become something of a compulsive habit for him. Hector looked stoic in the picture, almost peaceful, when in reality, he had been so drunk he had had to take a taxi to the little studio, leaving his car behind at the office. Lily had been furious with him. This was reflected in her stern, tight lipped smile. Hector had always hated that picture and never hesitated in voicing that opinion.

It often seemed like Lily had displayed that picture for all to see in the living room out of spite for him. Her only little piece of ‘fuck you’.