I turned around and saw my mom, Patrice, Milo, and Easton standing by the truck, their faces serious, but looking a lot more relaxed than they’d been a few minutes ago.
I offered my hand to Easton. “Thanks for your help tonight, man. This could’ve gone a lot worse without you.” He shook it with his million-dollar smile back in place. I noticed he and Patrice were standing a little closer than what allowed for personal space, and was that P’s hand on Easton’s back?
Interesante.
“Glad I could help.”
I turned to my two friends and my mom. “Okay, here’s the plan. As soon as we take care of things here, we need to get home, and I’m going to require all hands-on deck for this one. For the next week Ernesto Vasquez and OuNYe will only have one mission: getting Jude Fuller back.”
Jude
“Carmen! Did you even hear what I just said? Who are you texting?”
It was Tuesday morning and we were on our way to the first event for the mobile library launch week and I was a ball of nerves. Today we were bringing the truck to the Newfield Middle and High School campus. In coordination with the school, we’d arranged to park there for the day so students could try the library. We’d have music, prizes, and free books for acountywide read. We’d also make announcements about all the events we’d have throughout the year. It was pretty basic as launches went, but we were hoping our enthusiasm would make up for it.
The plan was to do the same at the three other rural towns in the county. So we’d be taking our show on the road for the rest of the week. All morning I’d been freaking out, worried no one would come, but Carmen and our two interns had been furiously working our social media accounts and assured me we’d have a good crowd. After I called her name again, Carmen finally dragged her eyes away from her phone and had a huge grin on her face.
“Umm yeah, so everything is set. Just heard from Z and Roi and they said there are already a bunch of kids there, and we’re not even supposed to start for another half hour.”
Relief washed through my body. I’d been so on edge since Friday. Between preparing for this, and the anxiety from the debacle with Misty, I was so ready for a vacation. Thankfully, in the end, Misty’s scheming didn’t ruin Nesto’s night. From what I heard through the Dominican News Network—which Carmen was now fully a part of—the night had been a huge success. Misty hadn’t been at the library yesterday, and word was she was “taking some time off.” For all of her attempts to sabotage us, she hadn’t been able to undo mine or Nesto’s hard work. As he’d said all along, people finally saw her for exactly who she was.
Things with Nesto were still not okay though. Friday night after the party he’d texted to tell me he knew what I’d risked to help him. I told him I didn’t have any regrets, but that I needed time.
I still felt unsure.
I didn’t know if Nesto could ever really make me a priority. I knew I’d need to talk to him eventually. I wanted to, but I’d been working nonstop for the last three days trying to prepare for thelaunch and hadn’t been able to stop by his truck. But I promised myself as soon as I was done with this on Friday, I’d go to Nesto’s house and talk to him.
When we started approaching the school, I noticed Carmen shifting in her seat like her ass was on fire, and she kept glancing at her phone.
“Carmen, what’s going on with you?” I asked, exasperated.
“Look ahead, Jude, you’re going to hit someone.” I looked up at the road as we turned onto the high school grounds and noticed there were a lot of cars there already. Then as we got closer my heart almost leapt out of my chest.
Next to our book truck, with a line forming already, was Nesto’s truck. There was also what looked like a face-painting station, and a bunch of kids were walking around with tote bags featuring the library’s and OuNYe’s logos. When I looked closer, I saw Nesto standing a few yards away from the truck, in a spot where he had a clear view of the cars driving in. He had his head down, focused on his phone and didn’t see us. Before he looked up, I quickly pulled into one of the spots farther away from the crowd and turned to Carmen, who looked ready to burst.
“Spill.”
“So, your boyfriend is here with his crew, serving free food and refreshments for all the kids who come to the launch.” She did a little shimmy with her shoulders and her grin was so big I could barely see her cheeks. “He also had bags made so the kids could carry any books they checked out. I don’t even know how he managed that so fast! Oh, and the face painting was my idea. He’s paying for it, though.”
I was breathless, and the urge to leap out of my car and sprint to Nesto was so intense I was sure I’d snap the steering wheel off if I didn’t let go.
“Nesto is here serving free food at our launch. How exactly did that happen?”
“Well Nurys called me Friday night, you know after you mobilized the district attorney’s office to ensure Misty didn’t disrupt his event?” Another shoulder shimmy. I was going tothrottleher. “Right, so Nurys said Nesto wanted to help with the launch by providing food and drinks. I may have mentioned we didn’t have a budget for it. I told him we’d love for him to help out, so he was in.”
As she talked, I glanced up and saw that Nesto was still standing in the same spot. There were kids swarming all around him, carrying bags full of books and the food his truck was serving. He didn’t look at anyone though; his eyes trained on the cars coming into the lot. Remaining calm with Nesto this close was becoming more of a challenge with every passing second. “He’s been working on this all weekend?”
Carmen actually clapped before she answered. “Yup! He also got a hold of some of the other vendors at the market he knew. The ‘Lick your Lassi’ ladies donated a bunch of popsicles.” Her face looked more serious now. “The truck won’t serve in town for the rest of the week. He’ll be with us at the schools for the next three days.”
Wait, what?
“He’s closing down the truck all weekandgiving away free food? What kind of fucked-up business decision is that?”
Carmen was howling with laughter at this point. “You better go ask him yourself,” she said, pointing in his direction. “Z said he’s been standing there for an hour looking out for your car.”
I didn’t even respond. I jumped out of the car and did a sprint-walk straight for him. As soon as he spotted me he started moving, too. We both came to a dead stop when we were only a couple of feet away, both short of breath like we’d run for miles. The need to touch him was so intense my hands shook as I went to grab his.
“Mi amor.”
