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“Calm down, crazy,” I said, uttering the words she had used on me a few days earlier. “It’s fine.”
“How is this fine?” she asked. She cocked her hip and started tapping her foot on the porch floor, her movements getting more impatient. “She could have called the office tomorrow! And also, ugh.” She took a deep breath, then let her arms fall to her side. Her jaw clenched. “Ibuprofen? Really?” She rolled her eyes, then turned to walk into the house, not giving me time to even react to her rare outburst.
I laughed at my friend’s display and followed her back to the kitchen. She had poured two glasses of wine and took out some of the leftovers we still had in the fridge from dinner the other night. She sat at the counter and took a long gulp of her drink, then took a deep breath.
She did this thing where she wouldn’t let anythingsimmer. She was normally the quiet one in our group, taking in everything that happened around her, then making her own decisions about the events. If she had something to say, she would say it and then immediately let it go. Like it was old news, and she was moving on to better, more positive things. She never stewed.
“It’s not a big deal, Valen,” I said as I sat down to eat some of the appetizers she had set up for us. “I’m happy to help.”
I tried to give her a big grin, but she wasn’t having it. She rolled her eyes at me again, then turned to look out the windows, where the rain had stopped, but the trees were still moving with the wind. The tent for the wedding was still up, but the side walls had been rolled down to avoid it getting wet in case of rain.
“Victoria really does think of everything,” she said, moving on from the topic at hand.
“Mm-hmm,” I agreed, taking a sip of the wine. “It’s like she’s always a step ahead of everyone.”
“Are you ready for tomorrow?”
No.I wanted to scream it at her.Of course not.“Yeah, I think so.” I smiled at her, then turned to look out the window, my gaze focusing on the tent. “They brought in the remaining tables and chairs at, like, noon today.”
She stood from her seat at the island, then walked to the back door. She cocked her head and squinted, looking towards the tent. Maybe trying to see inside the thick plastic sides to figure out what wasin there.
“Are they setting up in the morning, then?”
I nodded, then went back to my food, grabbing a soggy bruschetta from the plate in front of me. “Martina comes in at ten in the morning. I go first, and then she does my mom, Catalina, then Victoria last.”
She was quiet for a moment, then sighed. I went back to my food, and Valentina stood quietly by the door, looking intently at me. She opened her mouth, then slightly shook her head, maybe changing her mind about saying what she wanted to say. I tried to ignore it, but her eyes were burning a hole through my head. If I didn’t shut it down immediately, she would read my mind, and then the questions would come. She would say it once and then be done with it, as she did. But I wasn’t even ready to talk about it once.Nope, not happening.
The sound of the front door closing startled me. Valentina brought her hand to her chest, then walked to me, a wide-eyed expression in question.
“What is wrong with people today?” I said under my breath. She chuckled, taking the intensity of the moment down a notch. We heard a few heavy steps, then a squeak like someone had turned on their heel. The steps receded and headed up the stairs instead.
“Lucía,” my brother Charlie yelled.
Valentina blushed, then hurried to the couch to grab her purse. I smiled at her, then winked and yelled, “In the kitchen!”
The steps turned louder as he approached the threshold.Valentina fumbled with her purse as a reaction to hearing my brother come into the house. She blushed again the moment he stepped in the doorway, his large frame blocking the path out the kitchen and into the entry.
“Oh,” they both said at the same time. Charlie cleared his throat.
“Good evening,” he said, then walked into the kitchen towards me. He kissed my cheek, walked to the fridge, and opened the door. “What are you up to?” he asked into the refrigerator nonchalantly.
“I’m just leaving,” she said quickly, her voice sounding raspy. “See you tomorrow.”
She turned to leave, and then Charlie’s face snapped to me. “I’ll walk her home.”
“Sure.” I shrugged. He followed her out of the house, the front door closing loudly behind them.
And then I was alone, in that big house, with all those thoughts.
7
LUCÍA
What a clusterfuck,right?
What I meant to say was: how was one supposed to tell their brother not to get married to the fucking love of his life, literally, on that date because they were still grieving a patient that they shouldn’t have gotten attached to? And her brother. Her freaking brother, who wreaked havoc on my heart.
A mouthful, for sure, but also not justifiable.
