She stopped when she saw the bottle in Victor’s hand.
“What’s that?”
Victor immediately put the cork back in.
“Nothing interesting.”
Emily laughed.
“Then why do you hide it?”
Victor looked at her for a moment.
“Because some things are meant to stay between two people.”
She looked at me.
I shrugged.
“Your father is being mysterious again.”
Emily rolled her eyes.
“You two are weird.”
Then she went upstairs.
I laughed.
Victor didn’t.
He simply watched her disappear.
I noticed that.
For the first time, I wondered whether the bottle meant more to him than he had admitted.
But I didn’t ask.
That became my biggest mistake.
Because questions that seem unimportant today can become the questions you would give anything to ask tomorrow.
Years passed.
Every month, a small package arrived at our house.
Usually it came in plain brown wrapping.
Victor always collected it himself.
He never let the delivery person leave it at the door.
He would bring it inside, take it directly to the kitchen, and close the door.
Then, sometime later, another unlabeled bottle would appear on the highest shelf.
I once asked him where he got it.
“An old acquaintance.”
“Who?”
“Someone you don’t know.”
