Page 72 of Read With Your Heart

“Hi, Lys,” Levi says, and my heart pitter-patters at the possibility of their friendship.

+ + +

Two weeks later, when I open the front door, I see the last person I expect on my front stoop.

“Leon?” I choke on his name and stare as the flurries land softly on his shoulders, making him look like a Christmas present I can’t have. Everything hits me hard, like an unexpected snowstorm. Him leaving. No contact. I’m buried under the hurt, and I have nothing to say to him. Crossing my arms, I ask, “What do you want?”

“Can I come in?”

I stare at his silver eyes, hating how my insides turn over.

“I’m only letting you in because it’s too cold to hold open the door.” I step back, anger heating me enough I could melt the ice on my front steps. Leon looks around the room. No observer would miss that the ugly couch, awful end tables, and hideous lamps are gone. Thankfully, the hardwood under the old nasty carpet was in excellent condition, and it’s now exposed and polished. Fresh paint covers the living room, dining room, and staircase walls. Levi and Lys have been a huge help, bribed with dinners and tutoring sessions. The work involved in sprucing up my home was a much-needed distraction from the thoughts of panic and worry for Leon and Lena.

“Place looks good,” he says, clapping his hands and stomping his feet on the mat just inside the door. I don’t offer to take his coat. He has about five seconds to say something other than noticing the freshly painted walls before I toss him out.

“Leon,” I groan. I fight back the tears. Relief washes over me to find him unharmed. Lena has kept me posted. Her fear Leon would retaliate against Hector. Her decision to stay in Chicago with a family friend. She’d been quiet on the specifics about Leon himself, though. When he was coming back. If he was returning at all.

Just one look at him makes me long to be in his arms. I want to tell him how much I’ve missed him. I’ve too easily forgiven him, and that’s dangerous for my heart.

Heavy feet thud down the staircase until Lys stops at the base, hesitating from launching herself at her brother.

“Leon!” Her voice rises, and he opens his arms. It’s a rare show of brotherly affection, and this action warms my insides. She’s missed him just as much as I have. We’ve navigated through the awkwardness of not being family, but teacher and student living together. Then again, she’s grown on me so quickly and filled a void I didn’t realize existed by leaving Levi behind with his father and brother.

I’ve stepped back to allow sister and brother their embrace.

“Where is Lena? Have you seen Mami and Papi?” Lys jabbers at her brother, who looks over her head to me. I slowly shake my head. I hadn’t told Lys what I knew about their parents, feeling it wasn’t my place to break that kind of news. I was just trying to keep things as normal as I could for her, suddenly without either of her siblings after being separated from her parents.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” I say, smiling weakly at Leon and turning toward the kitchen.

“Wait,” Leon says, reaching around his sister. “We need to talk.” His quieter tone and hesitating eyes tell me he’s nervous.

“You need to talk to Lys first.” His sister should be his priority. He has some major family drama to divulge.

“Just wait. Wait for me,” he pleads, and I want to remind him I’ve been waiting almost two weeks to hear from him.

“I’ll be in the kitchen.”

I don’t know how long it will take to break the heart of a fourteen-year-old by informing her that her parents are out of the country with no immediate plan to return. Then to tell her that her sister has decided to stay in their hometown indefinitely. Unfortunately, I felt I had to tell Lys about Lena’s condition. She needed to understand my urgency to go to Chicago and help her sibling. I have no idea what Leon told her with regard to Lena’s baby and her plans for her future. None of it is my business, but I’m suddenly sad when I consider Lys might be leaving me.

I feel Leon’s presence before he speaks to me, and I turn from the cabinet to face him.

“That was so hard,” he says, scratching at the back of his neck.

“Is she okay?” I fight the desire to find Lys and comfort her. It’s Leon’s place more than mine, but I’m concerned about Lys’s emotional state. Her feelings must be all over the place.

“She wants to stay here.” The response surprises me.

“She can stay as long as she’d like.” My heart skips inside my chest. I’d never turn her away, but I immediately wonder what this means for her brother.

“I’d like to stay here as well.”

“You what?” I stare at him, my heart moving from a skip to a full gallop. “Here?” I question, pointing my finger to the floor to emphasize the words. “My house?”

“Yes, I’d like to stay with you in your house.”

“I . . .” I just don’t know if that’s a good idea. “You left.” I don’t need to remind him, but I do. “No phone call. No texts. No apology. And now you want to walk back in here like nothing happened.” While I realize there was a lot going on for him, it’s no excuse not to let me in and keep me informed of how he was doing or what he was doing.

“I’m sorry,” he says. Leon exhales slowly, slipping his hands into his front pockets.