“She is. Bye, Tamara.”
Ramón took his coffees and his Danishes, left the store, and ran into Mateo, who sat on the patio.
“Hey, man. What are you up to?” Mateo asked after a bro hug.
“Not much. Heading back to my rental condo in Coronado where my girlfriend is waiting for me.”
Mateo’s head shifted back. “Nice. Congrats. You have a girlfriend?”
“Yeah, I’m as shocked as anyone. But Julieta’s really great. I’m happy.”
“Cool, man. I’d like to meet her.”
“Do you want to come with me?”
“Yeah, I’ll come. I was looking for a place to co-work for the day. I have a new house design I’m working on.”
“Awesome. We can work at my place.”
“Sounds good.”
Mateo got into Ramón’s car, and they took off for Coronado.
When they arrived at the condo, Julieta wasn’t there, but Ramón did find a note.
Hey, Ramón,
I had to go into work. I’ll call you later.
Besos,
Julieta
Ramón called her again, but she didn’t pick up. She was probably busy.
Ramón and Mateo hung out for a bit, then they both got to work, tapping away on their laptops with complete focus. Two hours later, Ramón’s stomach grumbled. “Want to stop for a break? We can go to Julieta’s place for lunch. She’s a chef.”
“Sounds good. I can’t wait.”
Ramón opened his email, and there was a copy of the lease agreement for the café from his father.
Oh, fuck.
He quickly opened the PDF and scanned the letter.
Triple the rent.
He looked at the email one more time, hoping, praying that it was merely a draft.
Please, Papá, tell me that you didn’t send that out.
But Ramón had only received it as a blind copy.
Papá had gone behind his back and raised the rent.
Dammit.
He had to get to Julieta before she found out. If she hadn’t already.
