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“Not now. I’m busy. Your sister is sorting out necessary wedding preparations. You have nothing as important as that to give your time to. Ojalá, que no fueras tan insolente. Vamos.” Mama thrust the basket at Aisha. “Tómalo.”
Aisha took it and let it hang at her side. She didn’t mean to be rude to Mama. She wasn’t being listened to and that was infuriating.
“Allow me to escort you, Aisha. It would be my pleasure,” Nicolás said.
Aisha turned towards him and tightened her grip. “I’ll be fine.”
Mama beamed at him, the saviour of her delinquent daughter. She could scream.
“This is a very good idea. Perhaps, Nicolás, you can help her lose her disrespectful attitude.”
She launched another dismissive wave at Aisha. There was no point in challenging her because she would become angrier. Even if Aisha ran all the way to the old man’s house and back, she would miss the bus she needed to catch to get into the city on time. At best, she would be an hour and a half late. Gabi would think she didn’t want to see her. Some would say it was nature’s way of getting her to do the right thing by her family. She didn’t believe that.
“So, who is this friend you’ve arranged to meet?” Nicolás asked as they walked.
“No one you know.”
They continued in silence. Aisha lengthened her stride, and the anger and frustration burned inside her. Being late was annoying, but not being free ate away at her like a parasite that couldn’t be destroyed. There was no one she could talk to. No one she could share her dreams with who would understand what it was to be her.
“Is this friend a man?” he asked.
She stopped walking, turned to him, and put her hands on her hips. “This isn’t a conversation I want to have. Not everything revolves around men and marriage, Nicolás. I’m not interested in either.” Her heart pounded. She’d said too much. She bit her tongue and watched his response, hoping he hadn’t picked up on what she was really saying.
He shook his head. “You would tell me if there was another man?”
She choked on the breath that she’d been holding, and a little of the tension slipped from her.
His mouth twitched as he spoke. “I really care about you, and if there was another man for you, it would break my heart. But I want you to be happy. This would explain your reaction to me.”
She felt sorry for him, pinning his hopes on her, but she needed to keep him sweet, or her parents would encourage her towards another suitor in their village and another man might be less patient with her. “There isn’t another man. If I wanted to get married, then I would choose you, Nicolás. I’m just not ready for that yet. I love to dance. I want to meet new people and learn about the world.”I want to be able to breathe as me, not as we.Their culture and their history defined them both, but where it nurtured him, it destroyed her.
He gave her a half-smile. It was better than a scowl and suggested he had bought into her story.
“I can still hope,” he said and carried on up the hill with a little more of a spring in his step.
Thinking about Gabi lifted her spirits and drowned out his presence. She would get a message to the hotel and hope that Gabi could forgive her. Maybe they could go to lunch or take a long walk together along the river and talk sometime soon. She wanted to know more about England and the incredible life Gabi must have there. Gabi wanted to explore Granada, and Aisha could show her around. There was so much to see. What harm could come from them spending time together? Her heart answered the question, and she couldn’t quash the feeling, though she knew she should.
