AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Charlie was frozen next to me, his eyes fixed on the man before me wearing nothing but a pair of running shorts. He had sleep all over his face, his hair tousled as if he had gone to bed with it wet. Francisco smiled widely and tucked his phone into his pocket, taking a few steps towards us behind the kitchen island.
“Hey, man,” he said, extending a hand to my brother.Charlie blinked, then looked at me, waiting for something, anything. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, my brother lifted his hand and shook Francisco’s, mumbling something unintelligible under his breath.
The kettle whistled at that moment, and Charlie turned back to shut off the stove, grabbing the appliance and moving towards the side, where a thermos was set up.
“Lu,” Francisco said, startling me from the awkward moment. “I’m going to head out, but I’ll see you later?” he asked, his head cocked to the side. He took a step forward, kissed my temple, and squeezed my bicep, then walked into the laundry room and grabbed the rest of his clothes.
On his way out, he crouched next to the cat and ran a hand through her soft fur, whispering, “I’ll see you later too, sweet girl,” like it was the easiest compliment ever, even for the non-cat person he claimed to be.
Charlie made a sound, and when I turned to look at him, he was holding a fist against his mouth, containing either a smile or a big, big laugh.
Once Francisco was out of the house through the back door, Charlie turned to me, giving me a look that was full of mirth. “Oh shit,” he said, a smile growing on his face, the corners of his eyes crinkling with amusement just like Santiago’s did when he was being annoying.
“Callate,” I said, but I couldn’t hide my smile. “It’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” he replied, using those words from a few days ago back on me.
“When do you leave?” I asked, changing the subject abruptly, even though I knew that Charlie wouldn’t say anything to me. He didn’t ask a ton of questions because he expected us to leave him alone. Boundaries, he said.
“In an hour or so,” he replied, turning back and preparing hismate.His Stanley thermal bottle was covered in a sticky residue—the direct result of Jacinto covering it with decals just to annoy him. Anytime he would leave that thing unattended, our youngest brother would somehow find out and plaster it with stickers, then hide it back in their office somewhere with a sly grin on his face.
The cat was still perched at her spot beside her food plates, waiting for her morning ration. I walked to her and ran a hand through her fur just like Francisco had done minutes earlier. “Do you want to eat, sweet girl?” She purred in response, nudging my hand with her wet nose and rubbing her face against my palm. “Maybe you need a name.”
She blinked at me a few times, then looked at where her food was stashed. I shook my head and smiled. The impatience was contagious in my family, apparently.
23
FRANCISCO
It was probablytime for the other shoe to drop. Because things couldn’t be good for me, ever. Jazmín’s mom, Florencia, had texted me earlier to tell me to call her. I knew there was something wrong the moment she answered, her voice filled with tears and her sentences quick and choppy.
“You need to come back,” she said, her breathing erratic. I heard her pacing in the background, a door opening and closing behind her, and then the quiet sound of what must have been a hallway since there was a slight echo to her steps. “This is quite the shit show.”
“Wait, slow down,” I said, confused, because I couldn't find anything on the news earlier when she had texted. I had looked online and called a few of my acquaintances in the city to see if anyone had any leads, but nothing had come up. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to text or call—we’d kept each other apprised of our lives since Jazmín’sdeath, but this seemed urgent. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Did your father call you?” she asked in a rush, trying to get all the words out of her mouth in one breath. “Oh my god!” she sobbed.
I still had a headache from whatever was lingering in my system. I felt much better than the previous day, but my throat was on fire, and my heart beat loudly in my ears. The sun was shining, and there was a nice breeze running through town, the trees moving slowly and carefully against the bright blue backdrop.
I walked from Lucía’s house towards the town square to grab coffee, stopping at Santiago’s stoop to put on my shirt and shoes. I had hightailed it out of that house the second I saw Charlie staring at me, a scowl on his face. I would come back later and finally talk to her about everything. The town square was buzzing with energy, and the line for coffee wrapped around the building. It was the first time I was seeing it like this, but it made sense—Santiago had mentioned that January was a busy month for the town, getting tons of tourists from all over the place.
I had to talk to Lucía.
“Yes, a few days ago,” I said, frowning, because it had, indeed, been a while. If something was about to break, especially this, his dirty little secret, there would have been a stronger sense of urgency. “But he hasn’t said anything.”
“They know,” she whispered into the phone, a wail coming out of her mouth. The sound made me gasp out loudin panic, my heart beating faster than it already was. “Someone leaked it.”
“Okay,” I whispered, trying to keep my composure. Florencia and I had become close in the years since Jazmín had been diagnosed with cancer. It was awkward at first because I was in my late teens when I met them. And she was wary of my intentions. “It’s going to be okay.”
“No,no entendés,” she cried. “Where are you?”
“I’m in Córdoba,” I replied, trying to think of what I could do to solve this. Or not even solve it, but maybe help in any way.
“There’s one reporter that has been calling me nonstop,” she said. Her voice was elevating in pitch and volume, almost screaming on the other end of the line. “I was able to get away, but it’s a matter of time until they find me again.”
“Bueno, let me figure some things out and I’ll call you back, okay?”
This had the potential of being a disaster for Florencia. My father had gone to the ends of the earth to keep his daughter a secret because it could potentially be career-ending for him. That was why he had forbidden me from seeing her.
