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“Man,” Carmen said as she studied the brunch menu. “Are you having a hard time fitting into booths now?”
I laughed. “Not yet, but soon. I feel giant already.”
“You look great. You’re barely showing.”
“Thanks, Carm.” I placed my hand absently on my stomach, feeling the faintest of flutters. It was surreal to have such small lives growing inside me, especially in the midst of all the chaos we found ourselves in.
Carmen chuckled. “Well, you’ll have to save me a seat when you start crowding these booths.”
The server returned then, taking our orders and leaving us alone once more. The lighthearted conversation faded, and Carmen’s gaze turned serious.
“So,” she started, leaning back against the booth. Her emerald eyes bore into mine. “What’s going on, Adriana? You’ve had a storm cloud over your head for weeks.”
“You were the one to ask me for brunch,” I said. “I thought something was wrong with you.”
“Nothing is wrong, exactly. I just wanted to check in. Are you okay? I know there’s been a lot of changes with Tristan and everything else, but…”
“But?” I probed, my fingers tracing patterns onto the tablecloth.
She took a deep breath. “But I can’t shake off this feeling that there’s something you’re not telling me, Ade.”
I froze. Of course Carmen had noticed something was off. She was my sister, after all, and despite our differences, she knew me better than anyone.
I looked at her, really looked at her, and saw the genuine concern in her gaze. My heart clenched as I realized that I could no longer keep this secret from her.
“We are planning an engagement party,” I blurted out, watching as her eyebrows shot up in surprise. That much was true, and at least it didn’t involve telling her anything about the embezzling.
“An engagement party?” she echoed, visibly taken aback. “That’s...unexpected.”
I nodded, my heart pounding in my chest. “Yeah, it’s...it’s been a whirlwind, to say the least.”
Her eyes softened as she reached across the table to squeeze my hand. “Adriana,” she began gently, “you know you can tell me anything, right? No matter what it is.”
But I couldn’t tell her anything. Not if she was embezzling money from our father. She was dangerous.
“I’ve been having a hard time lately,” I said. “It’s been hard to focus and I’m not sure I’m able to do my job right. Numbers seem so hard right now. Everything seems so hard right now.”
“I understand,” Carmen said, her voice soft. “Everything’s been turned upside down recently, hasn’t it?”
I nodded, rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand. “I just feel like I’m drowning sometimes.”
Carmen squeezed my hand, her gaze sympathetic. “We all have those moments, Adriana. It’s hard juggling everything – work, family, relationships…pregnancy. It’s okay to take a step back. To breathe.”
“I know,” I murmured. “That’s part of the reason for the engagement party. It’s a way for us to pause and appreciate what we have before...before everything changes.”
Before dad finds out you’re embezzling.
Before Tristan tries to kill you.
Before the world we live in crumbles around us.
But I couldn’t say any of that out loud. All I could do was look at Carmen and hope that she understood.
“Well, you deserve to celebrate,” Carmen replied, her voice filled with warmth. “I think an engagement party is a fantastic idea. And it’ll be nice, right? Show the Rossis that your guys’ marriage is for real. I know you don’t want to rush into the wedding after everything that’s happened and I don’t blame you for that.”
“Thanks, Carm,” I said, feeling relief wash over me. Carmen was right about one thing: we deserved to celebrate. We needed a moment of joy amidst the storm that was brewing, a reminder of what we were fighting for.
Carmen sat back and looked at me with an unreadable expression. “You know Ade,” she began thoughtfully. “Life is too short to live in fear. Don’t let the shadows of your past cloud the happiness of your present.”
