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I step in and save her. “Sis, Ophelia is going to be very busy soon, so I’ll get in touch with her one day and see what we can arrange.” Ophelia looks relieved she doesn’t have to commit.
“Do you promise, Ophelia?” My sister is indeed my secret weapon.Insert evil cackle.Alice doesn’t even have to try to act sweet. She just is, and it is tough to say “no” to my big sister.
“Alice, I can’t promise when, but I will promise that one day I will sit down with you and look at your vacation pictures.” Look at Shakespeare go. Alice has already cornered her into making promises.
Ophelia isn’t aware that I haven’t brought a female home to this townhouse—ever—but Teagan and Alice are very aware this is a first for me. They both know the importance of getting her to meet my sisters.
I tap the tabletop. “I’ll see you ladies in a few moments.” And then I leave them to it, heading back down to the kitchen.
I’m trying to give Ophelia some space without me crowding her, but all I want to do is whisk her up into my bedroom to make out, but instead, I enter the kitchen to find Santiago alone.
Santiago’s got a food trolley filled. “Teagan’s taken a trolley up in the elevator and is setting up the balcony for our feast. I’m ready to head up.”
“Here, I’ll push this,” I offer, “if you call the elevator for us.”
Santiago walks ahead of me and says over his shoulder, “I’m looking forward to meeting the lady who has captured cocky Tucker’s attention.” He nudges me with his elbow when I arrive at the elevator. “How long have you known her?”
“Hmmm… interesting question, my friend.” I clasp him on the shoulder. “By my calculations, all up, it has been about six to seven hours and counting.”
Santiago’s eyebrows hit the crown of his head.
The heart works in mysterious ways.
Eighteen
SANGRIA ROUNDS WITH A SIDE ORDER OF COCKY GREEN CACTUS
Ophelia
The weather is all sunshine and clear skies with a mild scent of the salty sea in the air.
We sat around a long, rectangular outdoor table in comfortable, cushioned, chunky, wicker chairs in easy conversation like I have known these people for years.
I praised Santiago for his cheffing skills more than once because the food was delicious. Platters were constantly appearing under my nose to serve myself from with many choices on offer: chicken quesadillas, a variety of spicy tacos withallthe flavors, and empanadas, which looked a bit like what Aussies would call small pasties, filled with juicy shredded chicken, onions, peppers or beef. I’ve never eaten so much flavor-filled food in one sitting.
My taste buds were dancing and rejoicing with food from the Cocky Green Cactus taco bar menu, Tucker’s business that Alice proudly told me all about, and what she did there with her sister.
I quickly learned Tucker’s friend is an old-school gentleman, his manners impeccable. He made sure to engage me in conversation and showed me pictures of his children and his beautiful Latina wife, Isabella.
I’m glad I wore a dressy short-sleeved blouse this morning instead of a T-shirt. I had the foresight to drop my lipstick inside one of the jacket’s pockets before we left for the balloon field this morning, so I was able to do a touchup to make myself a little more presentable and tidy my ponytail before we sat down to eat.
Tucker still wears the Fainting Goat Ranch T-shirt, even though I whispered to him that he could swap it out for something he preferred, but apparently, he chose to act as a walking advertisement for my business. I’m not complaining because the T-shirt is snug, showing his fit upper body and tattoos. I may have misjudged his size.Not sorry.
Brunch with Alice consists of moments of her interrogating me. She asks all the questions, and I can do nothing but give her all the answers she seeks because earlier, Alice filled the townhouse tour with fun facts about the occupants, especially sharing memories about her younger brother. She briefly showed me Tucker’s music studio lined with various guitars and a baby grand piano, and all things technical. I keep forgetting Tucker is a musician and a talented one.
Alice pointed out she enjoys a glass of wine in Tucker’s temperature-controlled wine cellar with her brother. It’s a floor-to-ceiling glassed-in room with two wall wine racks and a high round table with high stools in the center of the room.
She loves watching action movies with her brother up in his rooms on the upper level, eating popcorn and snacks when he is in town, just the two of them. Which makes me wonder how often he is out of town.
Alice interacts well with everybody. I am the odd person among those she is familiar with, but she doesn’t shy away from expressing what is on her mind and involving me and gets me to reveal more and more about myself.
Now, Tucker knows my favorite flowers are sunflowers. I love rum and raisin ice cream above all other flavors. I adore animals. I don’t have a dog, but I will be talking to my cousin’s wife about getting two small ones from the animal shelter she works with after Christmas. My favorite game is Scrabble or Upwords. Idowear dresses—I had to laugh at that question. My favorite cake is chocolate, but not too rich.
My glass is never empty, with Teagan and Tucker seeing the cupeth-never-spilling-over, but never draining either, which assists with my looser lips, exposing more than I usually would to new friends.
Teagan got in on the action with her fair share of curiosity quenching, one question being: How did you meet my brother?
When I brought up the nickname—Hamlet—which Keanu christened me with, and how I played along, the table erupted in laughter, while Tucker explained how he could only assume it was my real name. I left out the part about getting injured, but nobody brought up my stitches, which made me wonder if Tucker already told them of the Friday shenanigans or they were all genuinely too polite to ask.
