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“More than one?” I croaked. It felt like my eyes bulged out of my skull, and the only one laughing at my reaction was Jacinto, giddy with excitement. Martina cowered a few meters away behind us. “We’ll deal with it later.” I took a deep, dramatic breath just for the sake of it. “Please go get dressed and come to the front to take our seats because we are about to start.”
Jacinto nodded eagerly and turned towards the house, Martina following closely behind. Valentina scanned the backyard for a second, then nodded at me. We walked together to the front of the set-up. We would be sitting in the front row. The plan was to have a quick and casual ceremony. Agustín, Victoria’s brother, would fake-marry them and pronounce them husband and wife. In reality, they had already had their legal marriage at the registry the day before, with only a handful of people attending for logistical purposes. This was all about them, and the scene really did reflect that.
By the time we made it to our seats, Santiago was already standing at the front with my parents and Agustín. Victoria’s father was a little bit away from them, chasing his granddaughter around the large tree. They were both laughing and giggling and having the time of their lives. She was cute.
The ceremony was short and sweet. Santiago bawled hiseyes out, of course. And I didn’t think I had ever seen Victoria smile so much and so hard consistently. They had come a long way. She looked radiant in a floor-length satin gown. It was the complete opposite of what I would have expected of her, but again, she was a different woman than the one I met a few years ago. Much more carefree, like my brother.
“Hey, honey,” I heard my mother say from behind me. She was wearing a blue dress that brightened her face and made the color of her hair pop. She looked happy, and none of the stress from the previous days was evident. “Did you eat?”
I rolled my eyes while still looking ahead of me at Victoria and Santiago dancing in the middle of the dance floor. They had their closest friends around them, all amping them up and creating a fun and loud atmosphere. “Mm-hmm,” I said loudly enough for her to hear over the music. Ever since I’d moved back, both my parents had been constantly on me. Which was okay, I was their daughter, but it was like they treated me with kid gloves, and I couldn’t get away from it. The moment I would step into the house after coming back from the office, they were on me. Especially my dad, who wanted every single detail about my day. “It was good.”
I turned to look at her, and her gaze was fixed on the newlyweds. Who would blame her, really? They were breathtaking together. I followed her gaze and took a moment to look around. All eyes were on them and theirlove, which was evident by how they were looking at each other.
The tent was set up in a similar way to how the welcome reception had been, twinkle lights draped over the ceiling and hundreds of candles illuminating the tables. It was still casual. There was no assigned seating but different options for people to choose from: low seating areas, large tables with matching chairs around them, and tall cocktail tables for people to stand around. There was a large open bar towards the back of the tent, the glass top lit up with different colored lights that moved to the beat of the music.
I took a moment to scan the room, take in my bearings, and center myself to my surroundings. But that feeling of dread kept tugging at me. Of course the date was important to me, and despite my festive surroundings, I just… couldn’t get rid of it. But then, my gaze stopped cold.
Because there, standing by the bar, wasFrancisco.
8
LUCÍA
No.
Impossible.
Or maybe I was seeing ghosts.
I wouldn’t put it past me, really. Between the date and the stress of the wedding and the end of year, it could be possible, right? That I was seeing ghosts, I meant. Visibly conjuring a person from my past who was so closely associated with that thing from said past I couldn’t get over.
She was haunting me. Jazmín was playing a cruel joke on me. On this date, no less.
“Let’s go dance,” a voice behind me said, pulling on my elbow in the direction of the dance floor. I turned to look at who was dragging me, but everything was a blur. I couldn’t focus on a single face or sound. My heart beat wildly out of control in my chest, the sound echoing inside my head despite the music around us. I shook my head to clear mythoughts, but the only thing that did was manage to make me dizzier than I was, my knees weakening with every step I took. “Are you drunk?” the voice said over the loud music. I knew this person was right next to me, speaking into my ear, but I couldn’t focus and figure out who it was. I squinted, but nothing happened. My body was moving in slow motion, but my heart rate was accelerating, pumping faster than it had ever done before.
I turned my body slightly back to the bar, the arm on my elbow still tugging me in the opposite direction. But he was no longer there.
“Lu,dale,”Jacinto whined in my ear. “Let’s go dance.”
It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t be here because why would he be? I scanned the room once more, trying to find even a glimpse of those brown eyes that used to be focused intently on me during that time. The long nights, the adrenaline of sneaking around, the bonding over everything and nothing at the same time. And then, the silence that was absolutely deafening in my grief.
But I didn’t blame him at all. I was also my own form of wreck, spiraling down so fast and so hard, I had to move back to my parents’ home, claiming homesickness and a bad breakup.
Jacinto dragged us to the center of the dance floor, where Valentina and Martina were dancing together with a few other locals in a little circle. He shoved me inside and started moving along with the music, lifting his hands up and moving his pointer fingers to the beat.I laughed, trying hard to hide my mood. I looked at my friends, who were each in their own element. Valentina was silently scanning the room, probably trying to sneak a peek at Charlie. Martina, doubled in laughter at whatever shenanigans Jacinto was up to, sneaking smiles and glances and secrets in between dramatic dance moves. And Victoria and Santiago, very much the center of attention, of course, in their own little love bubble.
“You should get a cat,” Martina yelled. It was hard to hear with the loud music and the bodies all moving in an almost choreographed dance. “It’ll keep you company when we are all gone for the summer,” she added with a shrug.
I laughed out loud at her spot-on interpretation of what my future held for me—lonely days and nights with a cat to keep me company. “Is that what you think of me?” I answered in between laughs. “That I’m an old cat lady?”
She shrugged again and smiled, one of those that reached her eyes, where they crinkled at the corners.
“Did Jacin tell you what we are planning?” she asked, speaking over the loud music. She was wearing a gold sequined dress that hit the floor, but she had it tied up in a knot at about knee length. Her dress shoes were long gone, and in their place, she was wearing her trusty pink slip-ons, the ones she usually wore at her waitressing job in town.
I rolled my eyes at her in a playful way and grinned, hoping to god that their ideas wouldn’t land them in jail. I was sure, though, that Jacinto could talk his way out ofanything, so I had no idea why I kept worrying about him—and Martina by association.
“I’m getting a drink,” I said, turning around to head to the bar. I did a quick scan of the room again and saw my grandparents sitting in one of the lounges that were set up at the edge of the tent, having a lively conversation with the couple who had stopped by to talk to me before the ceremony started.
And he was nowhere to be seen. Just a blip in my field of vision, truly brought on by the circumstances.
