Chapter Fourteen
Natalie shouldn’t havebeen surprised when Tío Enrique showed up the following day to check in on things.
“Is everything going okay?” her uncle said, while leaning against the side of the trailer, smoothing his fingers over his mustache.
“Yeah. Great.” She tapped a nervous finger on the counter. There was no reason for her to be anxious. A visit from Enrique at the Pony Expresso location wasn’t unusual and she was doing fine; things were under control. Maybe it was the way he was eyeing Mia, her presence a surprise to him.
Her friend was oblivious to his scrutiny, giving him her usual bright, dimpled greeting and treating him like an adopted uncle as she asked about his wife and family.
When Mia left to use the restroom, Enrique gave Natalie a serious look. “You brought Mia to help you?”
She decided to evoke confidence because that’s what an owner should be. “Yes. It’s Thanksgiving weekend, probably one of the busiest times, and I made the decision that it would be helpful to have someone else so we can continue to provide quick service. And Mia was willing to do it for a little extra holiday cash.”
He made it a point to peruse the yard currently around the truck and, of course, it wasn’t busy at that moment, making her confidence falter.
“I see,” he said. “That doesn’t sound like a riskygambleto you? We’ll see if you pull in more money than you spend just because you want to help a friend.”
This irked her. “I’m not—She’s helping me. And it’s just for this weekend. Yesterdaywasbusy and it’s still early so it will be busy again. You’ll see. Plus, I’m making contacts for new opportunities. In fact, yesterday I met an events coordinator who might be interested in having a mobile coffee truck available to add to their services.”
“Hmph,” was all her uncle replied, not sounding convinced.
As much as she loved him, she was happy when he departed. It was annoying to keep having to prove herself. She knew exactly how Mason felt.
Soon after, her sisters stopped by to visit. With her family and Mia as a distraction, one would think this would be enough to quell her thoughts about the previous night’s activity of snow tubing (and kissing). As much as her family interrupting her at work could be irritating, it at least kept Mason at bay. Except when he had stopped by for his regular Mexican hot chocolate. She was torn between wanting to see him, and alsonotwanting to see him. It was all very confusing.
“Hey, there,” her newly-single-again sister, Carla, said to Mason when he happened to walk by while carrying a Christmas tree over his shoulder.
“All right, everyone, just calm down and let me think!” The wide eyes of her sisters and Mia turned at her sudden outburst. While Natalie was happy that Carla didn’t end up taking Luis back, she also didn’t want her near Mason either. She’d explore the reason later. All she knew was that her youngest sister was cute with big doe eyes and had a more bubbly personality than she did. Perhaps Mason might like this version of Gonzalez-Torres better. Even Mariana would be a better option than her. And there wasn’t anything Natalie could do about it.
Not that she cared.
She didn’t care. Not in the least.
Okay, fine. She did care. For once in her life she wanted to be the one who was liked best from the trio of sisters, even if it was silly and didn’t matter.
“We can stay and help if you need it,” Mariana said even though Natalie knew her sister had pulled a double shift the day before.
“Yes! I’d be great at pulling in traffic.” Carla demonstrated this by swinging her arms in tandem with her hips, like she was part of an airline ground crew directing a plane towards the horse trailer. This was exactly what Natalie didn’t need.
“I think Mia and I can handle it.” She didn’t need her tío dropping by and seeing even more help had been added.
Mariana shrugged. “Anyway, we were thinking about pooling our money together to buy Mom a new dishwasher for Christmas. What do you think? Do you want to go in on it with us?”
“Nat? Hello? Natalie? Do you want to help us buy a new dishwasher?” Carla said, clapping her hands for her attention.
She snapped out of her daydream again, which had been happening a lot lately. “Huh? Yes. Fine. Just let me know what you guys decide.”
Mia leaned nearer to ask, “Is everything okay?” She had already asked an iteration of this question several times throughout the day, but Natalie blew her off, along with her inquiries into how the evening with Mason went.
“Yeah, great.” Everything was fine. Except she had allowed the Christmas tree guy to get under her skin. Even worse, she wanted more of it. More touching and kissing and everything else. Being on his lap, within his embrace, was exactly how she imagined it would be, all warm arms and comfort. And she really liked kissing him.
She was still thinking about the kiss on Tuesday, while organizing the supply closet at Pony Expresso. Natalie entertained the possibility of making an exception for Mason. The holiday season was already out of whack for her. She wasn’t able to go to Tahoe. Therefore, having meaningless fun along the way was something she deserved. Plus, he spent most of his time working in Apple Hill, so there’d be a good chance they may never run into each other after the holidays. Maybe he’d be up for a little holiday fling. She had yet to meet a guy who wouldn’t be game.
Yes, she was becoming more confident about the whole idea. The thought was putting an extra spring in her step and she couldn’t wait for the weekend to arrive. Too bad it was only Tuesday. She had to get through the whole week when all she was thinking about was Mason’s big—
He stood at the Pony Expresso Christmas tree, drinking from a to-go cup, and fiddling with one of the branches. Natalie set her box of napkins on the counter and approached, because maybe they could talk about her idea now.
“Hey,” she said.
