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“I should have been paying more attention? Maybe you shouldn’t be surfing on a day with low visibility! There could have been kids out here!”
He quirked a cocky eyebrow. “At seven on a foggy morning?”
I narrowed my gaze. Did this guy think he owned the beach or something? Because last I was told by our overly perky realtor, it was HOA property. “Heidi has as much of a right to be here as you do.”
He scoffed, turning his head to the side. “You’re referring to yourself in third person?”
I grabbed the leash from his hand. “Heidi’s the dog,” I snapped, tugging the wet dog back toward her owners’ house.
“My apologies, Heidi,” he called after us. “Wouldn’t want to confuse you with a reckless pet owner.”
If I were five, I would have stuck my tongue out at him. But I’d just turned eighteen, and I was livid. So I lifted my middle finger in the air and kept walking away, wet, traitorous dog in tow.
Two
Diego
My pulse was still racingas I went back and sat on my surfboard. I’d barely seen that dog, Heidi, in time to bail, and I’d been terrified my board would hit her anyway.
Luckily, Heidi was okay. Me on the other hand?
I lay back on the board, taking slow, steadying breaths. Maybe it was just because I was angry, but the sight of that girl walking away? It had my head torn in all kinds of directions. The swing of her hips had been sodistracting, and—
“Diego!” my mom called. “Breakfast is almost ready! Go shower off and get dressed!”
I blew a raspberry through my lips and got up, carrying my board back to the house. I leaned it against the garage wall and used the outside shower to rinse off. Then I went into the bathroom and took off my shorts, hanging them on the drying rack. I slipped into a fresh pair of shorts and a T-shirt, running my hand through my hair so my curls wouldn’t clump, and started up the deck stairs.
Through the glass patio doors, I could see all my family already at the table, along with my older sister’s new boyfriend, Jude Santiago. It was weird, having a famous singer in our house, but my sister was kind of famous now too.
Jude lifted his hand in a wave. “Sit by me, man.”
I slid onto the bench next to him and said, “Only if you promise to keep your hands off my sister in front of me.”
Jude laughed. “We’ll see if she can keep her hands off me.”
Des hit his side.
“See?” Jude said.
Dad rolled his eyes at the both of them, hiding his amusement.
I shook my head, reaching for one of the breakfast burritos Mom had on a platter in the middle of the table. Then I waited for my younger sister Marisol to finish with the salsa verde, so I could put some on my plate.
Mealtimes had always been chaos with three younger siblings and one older sister, but my parents said they were the most important time of the day. So we always sat together, whether it was breakfast before school or a bedtime snack at the end of the day.
I ate while Mateo, Marisol, and Adelita attempted to teach Jude how to say all the items on the table in Spanish. When he saidcucarachainstead ofcucharafor spoon, they all burst out laughing.
“What?” Jude asked. “What did I say?”
Eight-year-old Mateo crooned, “You said you’re eating your food with a cockroach!”
Mom gave them an admonishing smile while Dad shook his head.
“Learning a new language takes practice,” Dad said. “Mateo, it took you eighteen months to learn to say ‘Mom’ instead of ‘Dom’.”
We laughed at the memory, and Mateo’s cheeks reddened. “I was just a baby.”
Des reached across the table, tickling his shoulder. “Still are the baby of the family.”
