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“Just wait.”
Claudia shakes her head. “But even if they say something, I don’t care because I know you and they don’t.”
“I wish they knew the Claudia I know, not the one they used to know. Or think they know.”
Her face turns pale. “Tia Rosa said something about Dax, didn’t she? Did she tell you herself? What did she say?”
I shake my head. “I overheard her say something about a very public breakup… and another man. But I don’t care about that.”
“I do,” Claudia says, her expression serious now. “I care that you know the real story, not the one she and every one of them love to talk about like they were there.”
“What is the story?” I ask quietly.
“I was eighteen and I thought I’d marry him,” she begins. “But he was apprenticing under this Japanese woodworker. You know, make the guy tea, clean his workshop, boil the rice… but never do any actual woodworking.”
“LikeDrunken Master,” I say and Claudia frowns. “Starred Jackie Chan. Way before your time—or mine for that matter—but I remember watching the VHS tapes in Manila,” I say. “Did Dax ever learn actual woodworking skills from the guy?”
“He definitely did but not while we were dating,” she says. “Anyway, I had this chance to go to my first club in Albuquerque for my eighteenth birthday, but Dax was busy, so I went with some friends—Leigh included. We had fun and there was this guy named Tony who was there, worked for the movie industry and told some really cool stories. He bought me a few drinks and I kissed him.”
“Your Tia Rosa made it seem that there was more than just a kiss involved.”
“That’s because when Dax finally made it down to the club to surprise me, he ran into Tony in the men’s room and the guy bragged that he…” She pauses, swallows, and sighs. “He bragged that he fucked me in some dark corner.”
“Asshole.”
“Dax beat him up so bad.”
“Good for him.”
“Broke the guy’s jaw and had to do a year of anger management to avoid jail time. Had to pay a huge fine, too, and cover medical expenses,” she says, sighing. “But it gets worse.”
“How so?”
“I ran into Tony years later. Said he couldn’t even remember what he said to Dax that night in the bathroom because he was so drunk, and he apologized. Like, really apologized.”
“What’s so bad about him apologizing?”
“I dated him,” she adds as I look on with surprise. “On and off. Off more than on because he was always on location somewhere but that’s what guilt does, I guess, and a desire to get out of town. Only whenever Tony asked me to move in with him in California, I always said no, and eventually we broke up. I wanted to leave the place so bad, but it had to be for a really good reason. And he wasn’t it.”
“Did you ever tell Dax the truth? That you only kissed the guy?”
Claudia shakes her head. “I told his mom what happened shortly before she passed away, but I don’t know if she ever told him.” She pauses. “And that’s probably why I was always upset whenever I ran into Dax. It’s not him I’m angry with; it’s myself.”
I trace Claudia’s cheek with my finger. “Maybe it’s time you stop being angry with yourself. And maybe it’s also time you tell Tia Rosa to stop talking about it, too.”
“I will, when I go back home to review.” Claudia takes a deep breath and exhales, as if she just confessed a big dark secret—which she has. “There. You get to see the real me, warts and all. You sure you still want to be with me?”
“Definitely.” I lower my head to kiss her lightly on the lips. “Thank you for telling me what happened.”
“You’re bound to find out sooner or later, so you might as well hear it from me,” she says. “But I can’t worry about that anymore. Like Gabe says, the past is the past and I need to move on. I also need to review for my exams so the fewer things for me to worry about, the better.”
“And you’re going to pass the board exams on your first try,” I say. “You’re also going to be the best physical therapist Taos will ever see.”
She raises a finger. “About that last part…”
“What about it?”
“I declined Gabe’s offer.”
