The Mistress

By Kali Amanda Browne

--- Josie had experienced many loses, but none as painful as this last one. She was hurting and she felt herself literally shattering. As part of her ongoing therapy, Josie began to reconstruct the story of the most traumatic day of her life, the origin story of her torment: the day she discovered her father had a mistress. ***

These words begin The Mistress, a series of fractured stories put together by a heartbroken and seriously conflicted woman journaling about the origin of her inner torment. In an effort to better understand her pain, she began writing her memories. But soon she realized memories lie. So she started gathering the stories of those who'd witnessed that day and its aftermath, from police reports, court records, articles written.  

The Mistress chronicles a tale of betrayal and its repercussions. It's messy, sometimes contradictory and as chaotic as Josie's own feelings about it―because so much of it reflects the perspective of the witnesses, but it all still leads to the same tragic end.

Meant as a healing tool, it remains incomplete because Josie lost her journal. We may never know the revelations or epiphanies Josie may have gained from the experience, but we can bear witness―from a safe distance…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amapola Press
• Release date: May 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386997696

Kali Amanda Browne

Kali Amanda Browne was born in New York City; grew up in Puerto Rico; and she came of age and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Above all, she tries to laugh even at adversity. She is a writer, food enthusiast, devoted daughter, nerd, pagan, wild woman...

Book preview

1

FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS, on Valentine’s Day, Momma tried to redirect my attention.

She wanted to make sure I did not define myself by my memories.

I was 12, and witnessed part of it; but most of what I know of that day was a narrative I put together from police reports, testimony, news reports, and some interviews (I never told her I had been piecing these together by tracking down the people who had been there).

Last night, Momma called me to her deathbed and asked me, for the first time in the 30 years since it happened, How much do you remember about the incident?

What follows is what I remembered plus what others remembered and lent to my understanding of it.

The way I remember it, things changed for us when mom dragged us into a bar in the city. Daddy was sitting at a large table, his tie was undone and he held a cigar in one hand, the room was decorated with pink and red cupids and cutout hearts, and he was playfully kissing a lady—a lady that was not my mother! Then Mom, who’d been angry since the phone call, screamed a word I had never heard before.

BASTARD!!!

Before that day was over, our lives were thrown into chaos and upheaval. Nothing made sense for a long while and some of us never recovered.

It took me my entire adult life to piece the incident together but I couldn’t speak of it, because Momma wouldn’t allow talk of it in the house.

Bygones, Momma would say. Let bygones be bygones. Live in the present and look to the future.

I learned to keep my mouth shut about it. And speculate...

2

TEN GLASSES OF BEER and wine went up in the air as Sarah led the toast.

I want to thank Nikki, our fearless consultant and her offsite team, and Vic for managing the logistics at our end, the tall, lanky woman was saying.

Nikki and Vic! the group shouted as one and took its requisite gulp of alcohol.

We have created a fantastic system that will serve our network of charter schools for generations!

Here, here! came the cries from around the table.

This was a happy group of people, even if there was a splinter of tension caused by what appeared to be some questionable playful flirtation. It was odd if not exactly offensive to those present.

The second in command, Vic, had his hands all over the math teacher, Rose, who was his date for the evening, and seemed hopelessly in love and stupidly happy. There was something endearing about it and because his private life was so detached from their professional lives, they assumed either it was an idyllic school affair (purely platonic) or he was about to announce his intentions with the lady he was clearly courting.

But this was strictly a professional event and no one else had brought dates, so it was odd.

Nikki, the young maverick who designed the just-completed project, silently watched them and thought Vic was putting