I pursed my lips at my mom’s smug expression. “Not nice, Mamí.” She just laughed, tipping her chin at the object of our conversation.
I straightened as Camilo got closer, my body primed to take him in my arms, kiss him. Look him over to see how he was doing. Since we were standing across the street from his place of work, I extended a hand to him instead.
“Camilo, good to see you.” He looked frayed, but his smile was warm, and he stood just a bit closer than necessary.
“Tom,” he said gripping my hand, then turned to look at my mother. “Señora Gomez. ¿Como esta?”
She waved his hand away and went in for a tight hug and a kiss right there on the busy sidewalk, then told him in a low voice. “Please call me Esperanza. I’ve been wanting to meet the man who’s made my son so happy in the last few months.”
“Mamí,” I protested.
She turned her head up to look at me and whispered. “I know. I can’t make a fuss. I just wanted to give him a proper hello, m’ijo.”
She stepped back from him but kept his hand in hers. I looked down at him and saw the emotion on his face; he still hadn’t spoken and his lip quivered. I knew he was working hard on keeping it together. I would’ve given anything to be able to hold him. To have a redo.
I should’ve known with how close Camilo was to his mother, meeting mine would be monumental. We should’ve been somewhere he could’ve been himself with her, where they could talk and hit it off like I knew they would. Instead we were on a sidewalk acting like we didn’t know each other.
Finally, he pulled her hand and went in for a second hug. “It’s so good to meet you, too, Esperanza.”
After a moment, they separated and my mom gave me a sympathetic look as I stood stoically to the side, unable to touch him.
Camilo seemed better though, his eyes looked less worn. He pointed a finger to the west. “We’re walking in that direction.” He glanced up at me, giving me a small smile. “I got the confidentiality agreements you guys sent earlier, thank you for that.”
“Of course.”
He lifted a shoulder as we crossed the street. “Some people feel weird about it, but we need to make sure anyone going tothe shelter knows they can’t disclose the location or names of the people staying there. The safety of our clients is the most important thing.”
My mom nodded in agreement, and moved closer to Camilo. “I completely understand. You don’t know how I wish my sister could have found a place like New Beginning when she was here.”
Camilo put an arm around her shoulder. “I know.” He looked up at me then, his face serious but so full of affection. “What your son is doing in her memory is amazing though. We will be able to help many more, for a long time, thanks to what he’s doing.”
“He’s a good man.” My mother never could miss an opportunity to brag about her sons.
This time when Camilo looked at me, I could see all his love there openly on display. “He’sthe bestman.”
My mom laughed at us and the lovesick faces we were probably making. “Ay Dios mio, cuanto amor.”
I didn’t have the energy to feel embarrassed, and when I opened my mouth, I did it looking right into Camilo’s eyes. “Todo el amor.”
It was the honest truth, he hadallmy love.
Camilo said nothing, but I could see the tension in his shoulders had relaxed somewhat. After a couple of minutes of walking in silence, Camilo hurried up the sidewalk to an unmarked building and tapped a code on a panel by the entrance. The door opened and we walked into a small lobby. He gestured toward the well-lit and freshly painted area, where a shiny gold-plated plaque had been installed on one of the walls.
“Welcome to ‘Patria’s House.’”
My mother let out a startled sob when she saw my aunt’s name, and Camilo and I each took one of her hands. When he spoke, his voice was gentle.
“Do you need a minute, Esperanza? Take your time.”
She shook her head, her emotions all over her face. “I’m ready.”
He gave me a sympathetic look and went to push the elevator button.
“We can start on one of the residential floors and finish where we have the communal areas,” he said clearly excited to show us around. “As you know, part of the renovation was to expand the living areas, so now we can shelter more clients. We also fully renovated the kitchen and the wellness center is beautiful.” It was hard to tell who was glowing more between Camilo and my mom as he told us about the shelter.
As we stepped in, he kept speaking to my mom in Spanish, while she held his hand tightly, hanging on his every word. “We now have three apartments that can lodge families. So, if we have a parent who is coming with children, we can put them in their own space. We also have two small studios, for anyone who needs to be in their own private room.”
We stepped out of the elevator into a colorful hallway. The walls were painted a light blue and each door was a different color. Each room had a plaque with a name. Camilo came to a stop in front of a yellow door that had a small sign with hand painted sunflowers. After a moment, a woman opened the door. She smiled as soon as she saw Camilo.
