Our time is running out so I start to get ready to leave.
“I’ll visit again soon, Cece, hopefully with Carlo. Please, just think about meeting with Damian? See what he says? I know you don’t want to go through more legal hoops or get your hopes up, but it’s bullshit how this all went down and you deserve some justice.”
“I’ll think about it. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful, I appreciate that you’re trying to look out for me. There is just a whole lot for me to work through right now.”
“Ok. Love you.” She blows me a little kiss as she’s led out.
“Love you, too”
When I get home in the late afternoon, I check the mail so Carlo doesn’t have to. I never get much mail, I take care of almost everything online, and no one is sending me letters or cards except Celeste occasionally or maybe my foster parents on my birthday. A couple of days after I moved in with Carlo, I did do an address change just because I didn’t want to have to deal with going back to my old complex to get it. I’m astonished to pull out an envelope addressed to me, with the return address of the law firm that has been handling my parents’ estate. There’sthe forwarding sticker, doing its job. Now I’m really glad I took care of that right away. I go inside, greet the furballs, and open it up.
In the envelope I find a several pages long letter regarding the small house in Spain I inherited from my parents almost 2 months ago on my 25thbirthday. The law firm needs me to get in contact with them about getting the final paperwork done to transfer the deed to me since they’ve had no luck reaching me by phone. That’s because I don’t answer unknown numbers and I get a million spam calls. All of this is written in drawn out legal jargon that takes me a little time to decipher. Once I settle in, I give them a call and set up an appointment for next week. They’re located at the shore, so it’s about an hour drive that I can make during my day off on Tuesday, before I’m back at the tattoo shop. I’m working all this weekend, but 4 days on before a day off is pretty sweet. It’s gorgeously sunny and mild out today, so I decide to go for a run to clear my head about everything before making a quick pasta with sausage and peppers for us to have for dinner. I time it perfectly so that I’m finishing making it when he walks in.
“Smells so good, I’m starving,” he groans. “Thanks for cooking.”
“Of course! I had off today so it wasn’t a problem at all.” He sees the letter I left on the coffee table and quickly scans it, his brows pinching in confusion. “What is this?”
“You can read it, it came in the mail today.” He takes a few minutes to read it thoroughly while I stir the drained pasta into the sauce, adding parmesan to finish it.
“Sweetheart, you have a house in Spain?” His question comes out tentative, like he’s not sure how I feel about it or how he should feel about it on my behalf.
“My parents left it to me, but didn’t want me to have ituntil I was 25 for some reason. Probably hoping I’d be more established and better able to travel. It’s technically not mine yet until I meet with the estate lawyer. They’re contacting me because my birthday was almost 2 months ago and they want to finalize everything. I made an appointment for my day off next Tuesday.” He searches my face, trying to decipher whether I’m ok about all of this. So I squeeze his arm reassuringly, because I think I am ok about it. I’m ready to deal with this piece of my history.
“It’ll be a weight lifted to finally take care of this, I’ve been putting it off. I’d actually love to go to Spain with you at some point and finally see it but I’m not sure if we could both take off work and afford the airfare,” I tell him.
“Oh if you want to go, we are making this happen. We just have to plan a little with work, book a good deal for a flight, and get the cats taken care of. My mom would probably love to watch Gomez and Tish while we’re gone. Maybe we look at late May, Spain is supposed to have perfect weather then.”
“You really think we can pull it off? I can dip into my savings a little.”
“We can absolutely pull it off. I think I might even have enough miles to take care of our flights, I’ll check. This is going to be our first travel adventure, and I can’t wait.” He wraps his arm around my waist to bring me close so he can seal it with a kiss.
Chapter 14
CARLO
I can tell Tania is a little nervous as we head up my parents’ sidewalk, but her head is on a swivel as she curiously takes in all of the details of the house. She looks so completely breathtaking in a silky royal blue v-neck top and flared black jeans, with her hair flowing in loose waves, that I almost trip on the path from not taking my eyes off of her. Real smooth of me. My mom loves gardening and the front looks so well kept. It’s all muted creams and greenery against the white house, with big splashes of bold indigo on the house for the door and shutters. The porch wraps around the front and has two blue adirondack chairs on it, with a mosaic bistro table in between. My hand is on the small of her back in reassurance as I lead her in the front door, calling out my usual dumb joke about their favorite son arriving. Tania shakes her head in amusement but doesn’t have time to tease me about it. My mom is practically running from the kitchen to meet us, but it’s not me she goes to first.
“Mija, it’s so good to see you again,” she exclaims to Tania as she wraps her in a crushing hug, turning her asshe sways her back and forth. Now that she’s facing me, I can lock eyes with Tania over my mom’s slight frame, and I watch in real time as they go from shocked, to soft, to filled with a suspicious shine. She hugs my mom back fiercely as she closes her eyes against the tears that threaten to fall. My mom keeps swaying her and rubbing her back as if she can feel Tania’s emotions. I’ve told my mom the bare bones that her parents are gone and she had it rough growing up, so she gets it. Just like that, not 30 seconds since we stepped through the door, Tania Castillo is adopted into my family. I smile, knowing this is exactly how it would go down. My mom releases her and I go back to Tania’s side. She still looks overwhelmed by the greeting, but happy and more at ease. I finally get a hug from my mom and I can’t help teasing her.
“Well, I see who your favorite is now,” I drawl as I give her an extra squeeze.
“Pssh, of course she’s my favorite, she’s the only one here who hasn’t ever given me grief,” she fires back. Tania huffs a laugh. My mom grabs her hand and starts leading her toward the kitchen.
“We’re all working on the pupusas, my daughters will show you how to form them! Have you ever had them before?”
“I love pupusas, I’ve had them a few times. I’m excited to learn how to make them,” Tania tells her a little shyly. She’s smiling though, and my mom beams up at her as she pats her hand. I follow like a smitten puppy, trying and failing to not notice the completely enticing way Tania’s full hips sway as she walks in her tight jeans in front of me. When those gorgeous loose waves move as she walks, I get hit with that jasmine and white tea scent that I love so much. I hear my sisters long before we get into the kitchen, they’re chatting in Spanish and no doubt dancing aroundto the cumbia music playing while they stuff the dough my mom made with the slow cooked pork, refried beans, and cotija cheese filling. Behind me, I hear the door open, and the familiar voice of Taran talking to Lyra. I tug on Tania’s other hand to bring her back to me, murmuring that I’ll introduce her to the newcomers before she’s thrown to the wolves with my sisters.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Lyra tells her with a smile as she hugs her, her purple curls bouncing around her. I’ve loved seeing how comfortable Lyra has become here, it’s like I have another sister. Taran is smiling hugely as he takes in Tania, and gives her a hug when Lyra is finished.
“Come on, let’s get in there before there aren’t any more pupusas to make,” Lyra tells Tania, linking their arms and heading into the loud kitchen. She looks back at Taran for a beat though with a devilish smirk.
“Take your time sweetie, we don’t want any more almost fires,” she says with a cheeky wink. Tania looks at me with pure bemusement on her face.
“It was one time, and don’t think I won’t be paying you back later for bringing that up,” he says quietly with a dark promise in his voice. Her eyes spark as she lets out a giggle while wiggling her fingers at him, showing off her gorgeous engagement ring, before pulling Tania into the kitchen with her. Jesus, she and Taran would make me sick if I wasn’t so damn happy for them. I hang back with my best friend for a minute.
“Lyra is going to love her, I can already tell. She normally is not that comfortable with new people,” he says in a low voice. I’ve texted with him about what’s been going on, so he knows that maybe there will be some double dates in the future. His exact words were, “It’s about time you stopped third wheeling,” like any good best friend would say. He could not look happier about thepossibility, since he sees how well Lyra already has taken to Tania in two seconds. They’re actually kindred spirits when I think about it. Both of the women had tough childhoods and don’t trust people easily at all, which they probably recognize right away in each other.
I look toward the kitchen where these beguiling women of ours went. “Oh yeah, they’re going to be plotting against us in no time.” He chuckles.
