Yes. Work is making me take the time off. Whatever.
Oh. Her decision had nothing to do with him at all.
After a brief moment of dejection, Trey pushed his feelings aside. Regardless, she had said yes and at this point in the game he didn’t care what the reason was. He’d have to do what he could to take advantage of the opportunity.
And that was exactly what he was going to do in order to save their marriage.
Chapter 2
Catalina
One month later
Paradisio del Mar Hotel and Resort was a beachfront property right on the turquoise blue waters of the Cancun coastline. When their taxi dropped them off, Catalina’s breath caught, and she momentarily forgot she didn’t want to come on this vacation in the first place.
Despite being a biracial Latina and living in Southern California, Catalina had never visited Mexico before. She wondered if she’d feel some natural connection or have a kind of familiarity in her soul as she walked across its soil, as though some small part of her would recognize some of her ancestors’ country of origin.
Even though these days she didn’t feel much of a connection to anything, it was still disappointing to discover she didn’t have an instant kinship to the country of Mexico. Perhaps she was too overwhelmed by the sights, colors, and scents of the place. Or her family had been too long removed from the country for it to be home anymore. Beautiful as the countrywas, she only felt apprehensive about being someplace unfamiliar—and somewhat awkward and embarrassed when the taxi driver had spoken to her in a flurry of Spanish when he first pulled up to the airport curb. Many of her family members on her Mexican-American side did speak fluent Spanish. She did not, and it was always something she was insecure about.
A couple of years ago, Catalina had downloaded a foreign language app provided by her local library in an attempt to learn Spanish, deciding it would be helpful in her job as many of the families the organization helped were Hispanic. She was slowly understanding the bits and pieces of Spanish she heard, but she was too self-conscious at this point to truly test her skills.
She did fundraising, marketing, and community outreach at Little Chefs Big Dreams, a non-profit organization that provided basic ingredients and taught cooking skills to low-income kids and families. It was a job she believed in because Cat and her mother had been in a similar situation when she was a kid. But the job came with high demands and stress, especially within the last year. When it came to a break, it was either take a trip to Mexico or stay home.
Catalina wondered if she made the wrong choice, especially when Trey tried to be cute, like nudging her with an elbow as if to encourage her to interact with the taxi driver in his native language. Catalina ignored him, evading eye contact. That kind of pressure only gave her performance anxiety. Luckily, Trey took over trying to communicate, and the cabdriver was friendly and quickly switched languages to accommodate them.
“Hola. Bienvenido.” The receptionist greeted them with a bright smile when they entered the resort.
Catalina let Trey check them in as she wandered the modern lobby, checking the wooden visitor display shelf, which held a variety of pamphlets offering exciting activities and excursions to be explored in the area. They certainly couldn’t afford to do anything extra. All their adventures would be limited to the resort and whatever was within walking distance. Not that this was an issue, as she planned on spending most of the trip reading on the beach. Trey might find himself somewhat bored with this itinerary, but that was his problem, not hers.
“You ready?” He offered her an extra room key.
“Sure,” she replied, rolling the small overnight suitcase she had borrowed from her cousin and readjusting the large purse on her shoulder.
Catalina followed Trey down one hallway, then another, before turning the corner to an older hallway. This area of the hotel was less grand than the bright-lit, stylish lobby, but she held her breath when Trey slid the keycard into the lock until the light turned green. He pushed the door open, sweeping his hand forward and motioning for her to enter their royal suite first. With giddy expectations, she entered.
Except it wasn’t a royal suite. It wasn’t even an upscale standard room. It was nothing like the images Trey had shown her on the website, the one advertisingbeing newly remodeled. It would appear not all of the rooms had received the upgraded treatment yet. They were stuck in a room with matted carpet, dated wall art, and the slight musty scent of wet bathing suits. She wasn’t planning to spend a lot of time in the room, but she felt disappointed it wasn’t quite as luxurious as promised.
“This is, uh, nice, right?” Trey said, his own smile faltering for a brief moment before recovering. She knew this was a positive front on display as he masked his own letdown over the room situation.
Catalina left her suitcase beside the foot of one bed and dropped her purse on a mahogany table before pulling back the curtain on the single window. The room was on the opposite side of the ocean view, more of a cityscape.
“At least the AC works well.” Trey joined her at the window, and she let the curtain slip from her hand as she moved away from him.
At the table, there was at least a welcome card beside a small bowl filled with apples and bananas. Catalina undid the zipper on her purse and started placing the fruit inside. This was a habit she had picked up from her mother, back during the time it was just the two of them, after her father left and before they moved in with her grandparents. They barely had any money and survived off of SNAP for a while. When something was a complimentary gift, one had to take advantage.
This was the biggest reason Catalina carted around such a large purse, even if the weight of itsometimes left her with a sore shoulder. Mary Poppins’s carpet bag had nothing on Catalina’s everyday purse, which kept her prepared for most everyday situations.
“We have meal tickets, Squirrel. I don’t think you need to worry about stocking up for the winter,” Trey said.
She eyed him, never enjoying when he used that nickname and liking it even less today. “Free meals don’t mean good meals. You don't know. Maybe we’ll be lucky to get saltine crackers and peanut butter.” She felt safe making this claim given that this vacation already wasn’t living up to expectations—case in point, their room.
“I’m starving. Right now, crackers and peanut butter sound pretty good.”
“You’re so easy to please.”
“Since when has that ever been a bad thing?” he asked, his good humor still intact, annoying her greatly.
“If I come across any packets of crackers and peanut butter, I’ll add them to my purse stash for you.”
