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I raise my eyebrow at her, “What?”
She shrugs, “I don’t know, he just said ‘something that will make her feel better’”.
I narrow my eyes and make a face at her. “What the hell does that mean?”
Maddie gives me a ‘how should I know?’ face. I continue, “I guess? Does it make me a bitch to say no?”
“Maybe a little bit? But also not at all because you can say no if it makes you uncomfortable,” Maddie says.
I give her a look. “That’s super helpful,” I say and she chuckles.
The rest of the afternoon passes slowly. We talk a bit, but mostly just lounge on the couch watching stupid TV shows that make us laugh and forget about life for a while.
There’s a knock on the door and it makes us jump slightly since we were completely enamored by the couples on TV that marry each other without meeting first.
“David?” Maddie questions.
I shrug my shoulders, but get up to answer it anyway. I know my curls that were semi tamed this morning are now piled on the top of my head with tendrils spilling around my face. My high waisted oversized black sweatpants have a couple soda stains on them and my St. James University T-shirt is cropped, old and stretched a bit around the neck.
I open the door, not surprised to find the tall tanned man behind it. I give him a weak ass smile. “Hey, David.”
He smiles wide, his eyes full of kindness and gentleness. “I’m sorry to bother you, I’m gonna run but I wanted to give you this.” He hands me a brown paper bag and I take a hold of the narrow handles. “It’s pernil with arroz con gandules.” The pork with rice and beans we were talking about the other week. My eyes widen and I bring them up to look at him.
“You remembered,” I say in awe.
He nods, still smiling. “Yeah, I thought it might make you feel just the tiniest bit better.”
“Oh, this makes me feel a hell of a lot better,” I say, half lying, half speaking the truth.
He laughs once before saying, “Good. I’m glad.” He shoves his hands into the pocket of his navy blue dress pants. His white button up is now rolled to his elbows and his tie is just a tiny bit loosened. “Good to see you again, I hope you enjoy the food.”
I give him a small smile. “Thank you, David. I really appreciate it.”
He smiles at me again. “Cuídate.” Take care of yourself. My grin widens.
“Estoy intentando,” I whisper without thinking. I’m trying.
His face falls just the tiniest bit. Sadness and concern flash across his eyes before they’re gone and he’s smiling again, but it’s tight and slightly forced. He turns and walks away as I close the door.
I look down into the bag and see a container full of food, along with a couple bottles of Malta. I smile.
“Spanish food for lunch and dinner?” Maddie jokes. “What a great day!”
I laugh once, putting the food into the fridge, too full to eat anything right now. I go back to join Maddie on the couch. “Would you send me his number? I want to thank him again.”
Maddie smiles, slowly but brightly. She nods, “Yeah of course.”
EIGHTEEN
THEN, FALL, 5 YEARS AGO
I wake up to the sound of my phone buzzing. I check the time and it’s after eleven. Groaning, I see the name ‘Hayden’ pop up on my screen and I grumble, but find my heart beat picking up the slightest bit. I shouldn’t have given him my number last night.
“Hello?” I say groggily.
“Good morning, Ana Reyes. What are you doing every day for the rest of your life?” Hayden asks, chipper and too awake.
“You woke me up,” I accuse. I turn my body over, tucking myself into the covers and squishing my phone between my ear and the pillow.
