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His eyes didn’t look as sad anymore as he kept chuckling. “You’re sassy like your mother, you know that, right?”
I lowered my eyebrows. “Do you miss her, Kevin?”
“Every single day.”
“Then why don’t you talk to her in the ocean? That’s how I talk to her, Grams, too! You could do it if you wanted to.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” He rubbed his hand against the back of his neck and bent down in front of me. His hands fell against my shoulders, and he whispered. “I talk to the ocean. It just doesn’t talk back to me.”
I leaned in closer to him and whispered back, “That’s cuz you’re not listening closely enough.”
His mouth parted to speak, but the doorbell rang. Following right after that, we heard a shout. “Honey, I’m home!”
“Rosalina’s here,” he said.
My heart was doing cartwheels as excitement filled me up.
Kevin smiled and leaned forward, giving me a forehead kiss. Mama used to kiss my forehead, too. I hoped Kevin never stopped that. Ocean kisses, Grams called them because the forehead kiss sent waves of comfort throughout my body. They were reminders that someone loved me.
“I know I’ve dated a lot, but this thing with Rosalina is going to be different,” he told me, but I felt as if he was really trying to tell himself. “I promise, Stella.”
I nodded my head as he stood back up. He stared at me with a smile and those sad eyes. “Every single day, you look more like your mother. UB, you know?”
I smiled. “UB.”
UB stood for universal blessings. Little things that happened in the world that felt like small gifts from the universe. We learned a lot of our weird sayings and stuff from Grams. She was into magic and tarot cards, crystals and sage, and all of that stuff. When it came to the universe, Grams had a gift of knowing lots of stuff. UB was just one of the millions of things she’d taught Kevin and me.
“Come on.” He took my hand into his. “Let’s go see her together.”
We walked toward the living room, and there Rosalina was, standing there tall as ever in her high heels and fancy clothes. Her driver was bringing in some of her suitcases, and she was typing nonstop on her cell phone with big black sunglasses that covered her whole face.
When she saw us, she stopped typing and slid her phone into her purse. “Kevin!” she cried out, rushing to him. Kevin dropped my hand, and I stepped behind him a little bit as they embraced.
She was so beautiful. I’d never seen anyone look that pretty outside of Mama and Grams.
“I missed you, baby,” Rosalina said, taking off her sunglasses. She put those in her purse, too, and then placed her hands against Kevin’s cheeks and kissed him hard. For a long, long, time.
Gross.
I scrunched up my face and looked away. It was weird seeing an adult do that kind of stuff.
Kevin pulled back from Rosalina and looked back at me. “Stella, want to say hi?”
I wrapped my arms around his leg and kept hiding behind him. He pulled me around to the front, so I stood between the two of them. Rosalina’s nostrils flared like a walrus, but she smiled big as she bent down and locked eyes with me.
“Stella, you’ve gotten so big,” she exclaimed, tapping me on the nose. “Come give your new mother a hug.”
I glanced at Kevin, then at her, then back to Kevin.
Kevin grimaced. “We were going to tell you tonight. Rosalina and I actually got married in Vegas.”
“What?!” I exclaimed, feeling sick to my stomach. But that wouldn’t make her my mama, right? I just wanted a friend.
“I know, sweetheart. Isn’t it amazing?!” Rosalina said, pulling me into the tightest hug possible. She squeezed me so tight that I thought I’d explode or something.
When she let go, Grams walked into the room, telling us all that dinner was ready.
During dinner, I didn’t say a word. I didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t my new mama. I had a mama that I talked to every single day. Just because some people were too blind to see it didn’t mean that Mama wasn’t still with me in the waves.
