Tía Eva pinched her sister. “Gabi, we already prayed once tonight.”
Julieta cringed. Ramón would never want to date her after this night. “Can we just begin?”
Tía Gabriella began calling out the riddles. She always went so fast; it was hard to keep up.
“El borracho!”
“Tía Adriana!” Tía Eva yelled out. Julieta rolled her eyes. Sure, Tía Adriana drank too much, but did Tía Eva have to tell Ramón?
“El valiente!”
Ramón yelled out, “Ese soy yo!”
Everyone laughed. Tía Eva touched Ramón’s arm. “Yes, you are brave. And handsome.”
Kill me now.
“La mano!”
Julieta’s mother blurted out, “La mano de un criminal. Arturo Montez!”
Fuck. Did she just call Ramón’s father a criminal?
Julieta had had enough. Julieta had barely spoken to Mamá since she’d kicked her out. And of course, Mamá had every right to be angry at Ramón’s dad for stealing from her. But Julieta was now Ramón’s girlfriend. He was not his father.
Julieta stood and turned to Ramón. “Let’s go.”
Ramón crossed his arms. “I’m fine. Let’s just finish this.”
“No, I want to go.”
“Let me handle this.” Ramón turned to Julieta’s mother. “Look, I know what my father did. He admitted it to me. I’m sorry. I want to make it right by you and your daughter.”
Julieta’s mother glared at him. “He told you he stole from me?”
“Yes, he did. And I’m going to figure something out. For both of you.”
Julieta’s mother’s face lit up but then fell as quickly as it had risen. “We will see, Ramón.”
They resumed the game of Lotería and kept the insult hurling to a minimum.
“Who wants dessert?” Julieta went to the kitchen, and Mamá followed her.
“Julieta, I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
“About what?”
“Being rude to Ramón. I still don’t believe his father will do right by me, by us, but I think Ramón really likes you.”
Julieta wanted to open up and confess to Mamá how she felt for Ramón. Emotion bottled inside of her.
Mamá hugged her. “What’s wrong, mijita?”
“I’m falling for him. I am. And I think he really cares about me. He even asked me to be his girlfriend.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“Everything is wrong. I don’t know if I can work at Taco King. I’m still so embarrassed. He is so rich, and we are so poor. Well, not actually poor, but comparatively. I’m just afraid he’s going to leave me, Mamá. For someone better. And I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it.”
