He exhaled, clearly relieved by my answer. “Thank you. They’ll be doing tests on her tomorrow, but we’ll be here for the next week. Can you come on Tuesday morning? She’s in so much pain; she’s wiped out by noon. It’s better to come early.”
I nodded as if he could see me. “Would ten a.m. be okay?”
“Yes, that’s a good time. I’ll text you after I ask her about you coming, but I know she’ll say yes. “
We ended the call and after, I sat in my car with a thousand things running through my head. I stayed there for a long time, until I looked at the clock and saw it was almost ten and I was late for the festival.
I had to get my shit together. Nesto was counting on me, and it was a big day for him. Still, I felt scared that once the door to my family was opened again, I would be tempted to go back to pretending to be something I wasn’t.
And where did that put Nesto and me?
The happiness I’d been feeling this morning felt like it was someone else’s, as the old feeling of helplessness threatened to overtake me. But I couldn’t let it. I could no longer let other people’s beliefs make me feel adrift and lost. Never again would I let someone else control the way I saw myself.
Nesto
“See you soon, m’ijo! Take the smaller road I told you about, you’ll hit less traffic. I’ll take the county road so I can pick up Minerva and meet you at the festival!”
“Esta bien, Mamí.” I waved my mother off and went back to the commercial kitchen to grab the last container of food I needed.
We were running an hour behind to get to the festival, and I was starting to get antsy. Today was the last day, so if I missed my chance with Mr. Sheridan, I was fucked. I wasn’t going to dwell on the fact the delay started with me thirsting after Jude’s ass in bed this morning. We’d gotten up with the alarm, but I couldn’t keep my hands off him and ended up leaving his house at eight instead of seven like I’d planned. But whatever, if I hustled, I’d get to the festival grounds right at ten-thirty. We’d start serving about an hour later than yesterday, but it shouldn’t be a big deal. The crowds didn’t start coming in until eleven anyway.
I shoved in the bin with condiments in the back and quickly fired up the truck. The guys would meet us at the grounds, and my mom was on her way there with Ari and Yin. It was just me in the truck. I took the smaller road my mom recommended to avoid hitting the traffic we’d run into on the way in yesterday. As I cruised on my way to Seneca Lake, my mind started drifting to the night before and how amazing things had been with Jude.
Something big had changed between us last night and I was done pretending what we had was casual. I needed to tell him. He turned me inside out, and with the way he’d given himself to me, I knew it was the same for him. This chance with Mr. Sheridan could be the key to staying here, and now that things with Jude were part of the plan, more than ever, I needed to get my head in the game. Today could be a game-changer for me not just professionally, but personally, too.
I was checking the time when I saw a young woman standing by the side of the road. Her car tire looked blown out and it seemed like she was not getting reception on her phone. As I got closer, I noticed she was young, had to still be in high school, but there was no way I could stop for this. When she spotted me, she waved frantically, but I drove past her without even slowing down.
I felt like shit for leaving her out there like that, but I was already running late and couldn’t risk any more delays. After a couple of minutes, guilt started gnawing at me, especially since I hadn’t seen any other cars on the road since I’d gotten on it. My mom told me it was pretty isolated, so that poor girl would probably be there for a long time waiting for someone to help her, or worst, what if whomever stopped was some creepy asshole.
The guilt was already next level about not stopping, but what made me finally snap was the thought of something like that happening to Minerva. I would want someone to stop for mysister if she was ever in trouble and not leave her stranded by the side of the road.
“Fuck,” I yelled as I turned the truck around and backtracked the few miles to where I’d seen her.
A few minutes later I pulled up a few yards from her and jumped out. I approached her slowly, noticing she looked freaked out and more than a little pissed. She was petite, very blonde, and was wearing horse-riding gear. She had her phone in a death grip but wasn’t using it.
I didn’t make any sudden movements, not wanting to scare her. I was a strange man after all, and it was just the two of us out here. “Hey, I’m Nesto.” I pointed at the flat rear tire. “You need help putting the spare on?”
She looked at me for a second, like she was trying to figure out if she could take me, then stuck her hand out. “Hi, I’m Riley. Thanks for not being a total douchebag and coming back, I was starting to think I was going to be here for hours.”
I chuckled as I moved closer to the car. I liked this kid. “No problem. Were you able to call a tow truck?”
She huffed with frustration and lifted the hand clutching the cell phone. “There’s no signal here.” I was about to suggest we try my phone and then remembered mine was dead and like a fucking idiot I’d forgotten my charger at the kitchen.
I nodded at the tire again and walked to her trunk. “I can help you with the tire though.”
She shook her head like I had no idea how bad shit actually was. When I walked around the car I saw why she was so frustrated. Her front right tire was blown out, too. She would need a tow for sure.
“What happened?” I asked, as I bent down to look at the tire more closely.
She crossed her arms over her chest with a stank face almost identical to Minerva’s. “Some tool ran me off the road, and Iended up driving over these fucking spikes.” She waved her hand in the direction of the road behind us. “I didn’t realize they were so sharp. I got back on the road, but within a few minutes both tires were flat. “
I shook my head at her story. “And that asshole didn’t stop?” She rolled her eyes at my stupid question. This kid would get along great with my little sister. “Do you have anyone you can call to come? Triple A or something?”
She pointed at her phone, looking at me like she may have overestimated my ability to be helpful.
“No signal, remember? My parents have Triple A, I just need to let them know to send someone.”
I sighed, already resigned to the fact that I was going to be ridiculously late. “Where do you live?”
