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After she left, Isaac rounded on me, looking both irritated and amused. “You are truly evil.”
“No more than you,” my voice came out breathy, but I couldn’t help it. Isaac was creeping closer, and though I wanted to hate it, I really didn’t.
He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I don’t need Maria to make your special love connection with Titan happen. You know that, right?”
“Go ahead and try.”
Famous last words. Before we left bingo, Isaac had a little man-to-man chat with Titan, and right after, the guy practically tossed aside chairs to get to me. It must have been some pep-talk. I had no choice but to agree to go out with him, with the understanding I wasn’t looking for anything serious right now. Titan was undeterred. We, too, were going out on Friday. I was tempted to make it a double date with Isaac and Dessie, but that would have been truly flirting with disaster, and I’d had my fill.
Chapter 14 - Isaac
“You’re shivering.” I unbuttoned my gray jacket and put it around Carmen, tucking her arms inside. That she didn’t protest told me exactly how cold she was. The sleeves draped past her fingertips and the ends hit her mid-thigh.
She buried her face in it. “Thanks.”
We had dropped off the last of the seniors, and the only thing left was to return the van to Carmen’s parents. What a night. Carmen was probably exhausted. I knew I was.
“Race ya,” she called out, taking off towards the van. Okay, apparently, Carmen was not tired. My coat billowed up behind her, making her look like a very cute, very short superhero. I let her have the head start, and then I ran after her, slapping the van seconds before she did.
“You cheated,” she protested.
“By having longer legs than you?”
She head-butted my chest. “Yes. But that’s okay. I just wanted to be warm, and now I am.” She backed up and started searching her bag, presumably for the van keys, giving me a chance to admire her without having to make jokes about it—her messy, windblown hair, her bright cheeks, her pert lips pursing and twisting as she searched.
She finally gave up and handed the bag to me, looking embarrassed. I dug my hand in, giving the bag a light shake to stir up the bottom contents before I closed my fingers around the tiny metal keys she’d attached to her VW Bug key fob. This girl needed a key chain, something bold and sparkly, and too big to get lost in a bag. We had a display of keychains in our shop. Heart ones and blinged-out gigantic first name initials. We found customers often would buy one as a last-minute addition to their gift when they came to pick up flowers.
I’d give her a C for Carmen the next time we met. Or even better, I’d slip it onto her keychain when she wasn’t looking and pretend I had no idea what she was talking about when she mentioned it. I was getting good at pretending. I didn’t have much of a choice. I needed to be around her. I craved it. Every moment spent with her only made that clearer.
After getting her door, I went around and got in on the passenger side. “When is your hot date with Titan?”
She groaned. “Friday at eight. What the heck did you say to him?”
“Not a whole lot.” I’d spent most of the conversation vetting him, making sure I wasn’t setting Carmen up with an ax-murderer, or a player, or a grouch like his grandmother. Fortunately, Titan was none of those things. He was about the most pleasant—if a little bit boring—dude I’d ever met. His personality completely matched the tucked-in-polo-shirt-with-a-woven-belt-and-khakis look he had going on.
Carmen put on her blinker and pulled out of the parking lot. “You guys talked for like fifteen minutes. I know, because that’s how long I got the third degree fromAbuelita. By the way, she thinks we’ll make beautiful babies, and she wants to know when I’m bringing you to dinner.”
“Beautiful babies, huh?”
“Don’t change the subject. What did you say to Titan?”
“I said, much to my disappointment, Carmen’s not interested in me, but she’d like to know more about you, and if you’re not afraid of her extremely dangerous and protective older brother, she would be open to a date. Somewhere well-lit, out in public, and regularly patrolled by cops. Oh, and I said you were funny and sweet, and way out of his league, but he’d been called up to bat, and this was his moment.”
Carmen blushed. “Isaac, you didn’t.”
“What? It’s all true. Although, I may have fibbed a little about your interest in him.” I’d been borderline inspirational. The guy couldn’t resist. Not that Carmen needed someone to talk her up. All I did was lean on the gas pedal a little bit to make it happen on the same night Carmen forced me to accept a date with Dessie.
Carmen stared straight ahead, but I saw the way her lips resisted the urge to smile. “It’s true. My brother is protective of me. When he’s around. You got that part right.”
“Where does he live now?”
“Tucson. He does freeway construction.”
“And to think he used to steal your phone and send me lines and lines of hearts followed by vomit emojis.”
Carmen laughed. “I forgot about those. He really thought he was going to catch us being mushy or something, but all we ever talked about was your conspiracies about those lunch ladies. Or the probability of my grandparent’s house being haunted.”
“I’m still holding to my theory that they purposely ran out of pie on Fridays to make us sad. And nobody has that bad of aim. They covered my fruit salad in gravyeveryday.”
