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“What? No, of course not. I don’t know you well enough.”
He reached across the table and brushed a thumb over her hand. She was so tempted to leave it where it was, but she withdrew and curled it with the other in her lap. He took a long swallow from the cola the waitress had brought him, and she watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down that thick column of a neck. His features were similar to David’s but still sharply different. Miguel gave off a far greater danger and power than his older brother.
When he set his glass down empty, he signaled to the waiter for another. “Are you seeing someone?”
This must be the morning for her to be constantly thrown off balance. “I…loved…someone. I’m not sure I’m over him.”
“You broke up,” he said, nodding. “He’s a fool.”
She grinned. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And you?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Just before I came here I ended something.”
“I’m not sure how to take that. Don’t you want to get married some day and raise a family?” She was so out of line with that question, and it was none of her business. This wasn’t a date after all.
Never mind that he’s coming on to me all the time like he wants something.
She wasn’t offended knowing Miguel found her attractive. A lot of men had showed interest in her. Most she didn’t give the time of day. Miguel was interesting, and she wasn’t ashamed of her attraction to him. Just careful.
At her mention of marriage and a family, Miguel flinched as if she’d slapped him. However, he didn’t answer the question. She knew the type and resisted rolling her eyes.
“Okay, safer topic,” she said. “Why is there so much bad blood between you and your family? You can see it a mile off.”
He snorted because he got that she was just being facetious. His family problems were not even close to being lighter conversation. Her dry humor loosened him up, which she expected. If she did say so herself, she was good at making people feel better.
“To answer your question, the person I have most of an issue with is Thiago.”
“You mean your daddy?”
He looked at her as if she’d told him to eat a bug. Come to think of it, he looked like he must have been a stubborn little boy. She resisted telling him so. “Thiago has had a drinking problem since I’ve known him. You’re saying he’s had it since before you left?”
His jaw tightened. “If it were only a matter of the drinking…”
He reddened. She’d heard stories, but she wasn’t sure of everything. To try to ease the tension, she thought she’s share what she knew. “Your mom was his second wife, right? David was so much older than you.”
“Fifteen years older. Thiago married his mom at twenty-one, and they had David that same year. He lasted with her until he was thirty-six, which was when he got my mother pregnant. I’ve heard he loved my mom so much that he divorced David’s mother and married her before I was born.”
The sour note in his tone came through. “That’s terrible. Poor David.”
He glared at her, but he had warmed up to his subject. “When he was fifty-two, his eyes wandered again. This time, it was with the twins’ mother. Things didn’t go as smoothly.”
“What do you mean?”
Something flashed in Miguel’s eyes, but she couldn’t tell if it was amusement, anger, or something else. “Have you ever noticed that he’s missing his little finger on his right hand?”
“Yes, of course. I’m almost scared to ask what happened.”
“I don’t know the details myself. Jewel—that was her name. She tried to kill Thiago when he refused to leave my mother for her.”
“You’re kidding?”
“No. At some point, Jewel was deported, but she went to prison for a while. She wasn’t a citizen. My mom stayed with him just a year, but then she left. I went with her. I was seventeen at the time.”
“The same age as the twins are now.”
