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“My mom definitely expected to have a little princess,” she admitted, like it didn’t hurt. “But after the third Easter, where I refused to wear a dress, she sewed me a white linen suit because there was no way she was taking me to church in jeans.” She smiled. “Problem solved.”
Peeking into old memories she’d buried inaccessibly deep, Natalia allowed herself to think of her mother. She couldn’t imagine a world where her parents had accepted her like that. She recalled the time her father found her Indigo Girls cassette tape and made a show of torching it on the grill. As if who she was at her core could be suffocated with lighter fluid and a match.
“Your family sounds… remarkable,” Natalia said around the knot in her throat.
“I suppose I’ll keep them.” Samantha glanced at Natalia before turning her attention back to the road that narrowed into a single lane.
Soon they’d be traveling over narrow strips of land connecting all the tiny islands to each other until reaching Key West. Unease roiled Natalia’s stomach as the miles ticked by. She had no frame of reference for this immersion into domesticity. Her own familial relationships were fractured beyond repair, shards she’d long ago abandoned. Families were perplexing entities, their dynamics inscrutable to outsiders. And she was undoubtedly an outsider, no matter Samantha’s promises of normalcy.
“What’s your family like?”
Samantha’s question landed like a horse kick to the chin. Natalia should have expected it, but she’d been too busy ruminating. Damn it.
“I don’t know. We don’t speak.” Her tone made it clear the subject was not open for discussion.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said softly.
When she pulled her right hand off the steering wheel, Natalia had the panic-inducing fear that Samantha would slip her hand over hers. As if reading Natalia’s mind, she dropped it into her own lap instead.
“I’m not,” Natalia said with confidence. “People are not entitled to share your life because you have some of the same DNA. We share 99% of our genes with chimps, but no one expects me to go to their house for Christmas.”
Samantha chuckled, but it was a beat too late and followed by her eyes crinkling. At least she allowed the silence after Natalia’s joke to settle.
It was long after they’d left the city behind and they were cruising over Seven Mile Bridge with nothing but clear blue water under a perfectly sunny sky when Annie Lennox’s voice boomed about the rain.
As if compelled, Samantha belted along, singing to Natalia during the chorus as if that would make her sing along. Natalia envied her easy joy, even as she recoiled from its intensity.
Samantha slid her sunglasses up, eyes dazzling topaz in the direct light. “Now this was my first ever concert.” She caught her eye, meeting her gaze with a brilliant smile. The open affection in her expression breached Natalia’s battered defenses. “Who was your first?”
This was dangerous, allowing herself to be drawn into Samantha’s world. Natalia’s instincts screamed to retreat, to rebuild her barricades and shut this weekend down.
But an unfamiliar yearning hummed beneath her ribs, drowning out the warnings. She silenced the doubts, shoving them into a distant corner of her mind.
Just this once, she told herself. She would indulge this glimpse of ordinary family life, a curiosity she could never satisfy with her own kin. After the weekend ended, so too would this dalliance with Samantha.
Natalia repeated the assurances like a mantra. They fortified her resolve for the days ahead. She had no intention of being swayed by Samantha’s charms, no matter the efforts made to ensnare her.
Putting on the neck pillow, Natalia leaned back. With her eyes closed, she replied, “Madonna.”
CHAPTER 28
When Sam pulled up to the sprawling tropical resort, its low white buildings scattered amongst swaying palm trees and half-hidden behind lush vegetation, they were an hour behind schedule, thanks to traffic. Being late would normally have annoyed her, but the ride with Natalia had been surprisingly pleasant.
After having accidentally stumbled on the topic of Natalia’s family — a subject Samantha wanted to broach again but not on this trip — they’d recovered with chitchat about travel and restaurants and art. Sam almost wished the ride was longer. That she didn’t have to share Natalia just when she was starting to let her mask slip.
The valet opened Sam’s door, a warm, salty breeze enveloping them as soon as she stepped outside the car. She strode around to open Natalia’s door, earning an eye roll even as Natalia accepted her outstretched hand.
Skin soft and touch electric, Sam wanted to hang on a little longer, but Natalia let her go when they started up the paved path lined with colorful hibiscus and bright birds of paradise.
Arriving in the open-air lobby, all exposed beams and clean, white plaster walls, they were greeted with complimentary drinks. Pink and orange rum concoctions with turquoise paper umbrellas.
While Sam sipped hers, she couldn’t help but notice Natalia slurping hers down. She was chugging like it was going to self-destruct if she didn’t get to the bottom in four pulls from her straw.
Is she nervous? Sam couldn’t imagine that was true. There was no way a woman with the most intimidating neutral expression was nervous about meeting her silly little family.
When Natalia finished her drink before they’d checked in, Sam handed her hers. Expecting Natalia to bat it away, Sam was surprised when she took it and guzzled it down.
“You know this isn’t MTV’s Spring Break, right?” Sam laughed, leaning against the reception counter. “It’s just a pack of unruly Cubans. We don’t have to pre-party.”
