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My jaw dropped a little as I looked between Ollie and Rio, who had both answered.
“Gross,” Jago muttered.
Poor Ollie blushed beautifully when he realized what happened, and I couldn’t have stopped my laugh if I tried. I knew Ollie had visited Puerto Rico before and experienced the culture for himself, but I still wanted him to know it meant something a little different when I used it with the boys. “Yo soy Boricua, remember? You’re all allowed to answer to it. You’re the only fó one here, Jago. How are the pancakes?”
As adorable as Ollie’s embarrassment was, I changed the subject to spare him, and Jago winked at me when Ollie’s back was turned to show me he’d been kidding, too.
“They’re great,” Alex admitted. “Can we keep him?”
“Should we?” I teased, eying Ollie like it was a tough decision. “Él es muy guapo, sí?”
Alex made a face. “Tía, no.”
“Ouch,” Ollie said, holding a hand over his heart in mock offense. “That hurts, Al.”
I chuckled as I gathered a plate of pancakes for myself, but before I could take a bite, Dinora and Carlo walked in the house and froze.
“Hey, Nora. This is Ollie.”
She smiled knowingly, and I had to pray that she didn’t say anything embarrassing. “Ollie, huh? Never heard of him,” she lied, walking over to get a better look. “Definitely didn’t hear about all the butterflies you cause in her stomach when you walk in Sunday’s.”
“Chota.” I narrowed my eyes at my traitorous sister, and Ollie beamed.
“If you think that’s bad, you should see how many she lets loose in mine,” he said smoothly. “It wouldn’t be so bad but she keeps breaking my heart.”
“Does she?” Dinora responded, looking over the pancakes like she was some sort of breakfast investigator but Carlo had already dug in. “He makes breakfast and you break his heart? Better step it up, sis. Someone else might snatch him up.”
Not before I snatch whoever the fuck they are by their hair. This one is mine.“Are you going to eat or just run your mouth?”
Dinora held up her hands and went to kiss her sons before disappearing up the stairs. “He’s cute, Mia.”
I rolled my eyes, then got to work on my quickly cooling pancakes. “She thinks she’s funny.”
“She’s wrong, though,” he said quietly enough that the boys couldn’t hear. “No one could snatch me away, not until you flat out tell me you don’t want me.”
I couldn’t fight the genuine smile his words caused. “I want to kiss you so hard right now, Papí. But good,” I went back to my food. “Good thing I’m not crazy enough to tell you something like that.”
“I hope not.” He grinned, then started cleaning up the plates when the boys finished their food.
When I went to help him, I could feel how hard it was for him not to touch me because he failed multiple times. He’d graze my arm when I was within reach, kiss my cheek when he thought no one was looking. He was respectful at least, but I couldn’t help but be nervous.
This was a huge step for me. For my whole family, really, and when I caught Jago watching us I had to swat Ollie away after another stolen kiss. He had every right to be wary; Dinora and I didn’t have the best track record when it came to dating, and poor Jago had unfortunately been around for most of it. I knew he was going through some stuff on his own, and the last thing he needed was to be worried about me on top of it.
Our Jago had been through enough.
We all had.
