Abuelita hugs Edith next. She’s always liked her, always said she loved watching Edith take my bullshit, unwrap the pretty bow, and shove it up my—
Mamá grabs me in a bone-crunching hug before rubbing at my forehead with her thumb. “All that scowling will give you stress lines,mijo.” She plants a loud kiss on my cheek before standing me back at arm’s length. “Let me look at you.”
Edith grins at me from behind Mamá.
“You look good.”
Abuelita snorts next to Edith. “Good! He looks skinny.” She cups my face with both palms. “You’re working out too much,Pico.”
She’s called me “beak” since Edith started calling me “chicken.” I hate them both.
From the cars on the driveway, everyone else is here. We probably should have carpooled, or coordinated so that four vehicles didn’t all make the trip, but here we are. I try to distract Abuelita from the fact I have “no meat on my bones,” and coax everyone into the house from the porch.
My siblings are already around the dining table, a variety of drinks in front of them as they chat. There’s no sign of Papá, but the thudding in my chest reminds me of the fear he instills in me. Probably in all of us.
Artemis grabs Edith’s crutches and tucks them out of the way while I help her sit in one of the high-backed dining chairs. When she’s seated, I grab a footstool from the living room and slip it under the table so she can rest her foot.
Abuelita pats my cheek as she passes. “It’s about time you two finally got together.” She rolls her eyes. “This one needs someone who won’t put up with his shit, Edith.”
Edith’s cheeks are the color of Mamá’s claret tablecloth. “I’m not about to start letting his crap slide now, Abuelita.”
Abuelita nods like she approves of the fact Edith is going to continue giving me crap now that she’s my girlfriend. She disappears into the kitchen, and without a single word uttered I know she’s going to return with food. She keeps frowning at me across the table as though my bodyweight offends her.
“Where’s Papá?” Athena draws her fingertip around the rim of her glass. “Isn’t he joining us for this family meeting?”
“If it was truly a family meeting,hija, it would have remained between members of our actual family.” Papá enters the room with a glass in hand, half full of golden liquid. He sits down on the chair at the head of the table, sending a barbed stare in Edith’s direction.
I clear my throat. Edith takes my bullshit because she loves me, but she doesn’t have to take his, and she’s too damned polite to fight him in front of the rest of my family. “Actually, Edith has been family since we were children. Isn’t that what you tell her father every time you see each other? Howclosewe are as families?”
Papá grimaces but doesn’t speak.
What I don’t say out loud is that since I plan to make Edith my wife as soon as she’s willing, his argument holds no merit. I don’t want to make Edie any more uncomfortable than she is. I barely got her to be my girlfriend. I can’t spook her by admitting I’ve already envisioned our future, our family, and our forever together.
From the smirk on Abuelita’s face as she places silver platters of food on the table, she already knows. She taps the side of her nose with a sly wink that Mamá doesn’t miss.
Papá hands a piece of paper to me. From the way it’s creased, I can take an educated guess that it’s the letter I handed to his secretary.“¿Qué es esto?”
The urge to smart mouth him is damn near overwhelming. “My letter of resignation, Papá. I thought it was self-explanatory.” I’ve already had pie. In fact, I already had two kinds of pie, but I grab at the foil-wrapped burritos to give my hands something to do, and my mouth a chance not to snap at my father.
“Is this a joke?” He waves the letter my direction again.
“No, sir.” I harden my face, clenching my jaw, and look him dead in the eyes. “I’m done working for you and the company. Thank you for the opportunities you’ve given me, but my path is taking a different direction.”
The impact of his fist against the table causes the crystal glasses and silverware on the table to rattle. Edith tenses at my side before sliding her hand into mine. The gesture is small, probably subconscious, but it’s more necessary than I realized. Knowing she has my back, no matter the outcome of this so-called-meeting, means so much to me.
“I could ruin you, Apollo. You might want to think twice before I decide to accept it.” He glares at me over the edges of the thick, cream paper.
Mamá sits silently, watching me with a curious expression on her face. And as though my face betrays I need some additional support, Abuelita gives me a single, sharp nod across the table.
“I have my own money, my own apartment, my own car. I don’t need your money. I have my own direction in life, Papá, my own dreams. I don’t need to chase yours anymore.”
Ares sucks in a breath. Athena’s gripping the stem of her glass so hard, her knuckles are white. And I can almost feel Artemis’s quiet support from across the table.
“You don’t get to quit this family, Apollo.” Papá slams his hand onto the table again. “You have responsibilities.”
Edith taps my hand. “Actually, Alonso, with all due respect, Apollo isn’t quitting the family, he’s quitting the business. And his responsibilities are to himself. If he’s not happy, it’s up to him to make whatever changes he deems necessary to make himself happy. That is all. He doesn’t owe you anything simply because you are related.”
Papá’s ears go red, and his nostrils flare. “You’d do well to stay out of this, Edith. Meddling girl, just like your mother, aren’t you?”
