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Carmen:Do you miss me?
Lola:No. Of course not. Not even a little. I haven’t been thinking about you at all. I’m not even sure I remember who you are.
Carmen:No? Why don’t you come tell me that to my face? Since you already know where I live.
The prospect of seeing Carmen again so soon flooded Lola’s chest with heat that trickled out to the rest of her body like a string of firecrackers popping in a row.
Lola:Think you’re so clever, huh? Trying to bait me into going all the way over there?
Carmen didn’t immediately respond. Two minutes later, she sent a picture of herself wearing a faded t-shirt, floating in a sea of plush white sheets that were definitely not tarnished by Gil. She stared at her image, chest tight and stomach fluttering.
Lola:Always looking for me to solve your problems. The privilege.
Carmen:If it’s such a burden. I’ll handle it myself.
The sound of Gil cursing and her oven door slamming eliminated any debate.
Lola:Be there in half an hour.
She grabbed the handle of her suitcase full of dirty clothes and left her contaminated bedroom to find Gil muttering over a smoking baking dish.
“Put some fucking pants on and get out of my house before I call the cops.” She crossed the threshold and back out to the not-totally humid morning. “And pay your damn bills, dummy!”
The drive into Coral Gables was a blur. The streets, tangled curves of Spanish names like Alhambra and Obispo were arranged in no logical order, and tree canopies provided the upperclass with perfect shade.
Doubt crept into Lola’s chest as she neared Carmen’s house. She’d spent a lot of money to make sure her car fit into places like this, her clothes, her hair, but at her core she was an outsider. She would never be from a place like this.
Slowing in front of Carmen’s house, a lump grew like a mass in her gut. Painful and malignant, it curled around her lungs, squeezing the oxygen out of her and making it impossible to inhale.
Carmen’s front yard was bigger than she remembered. Shame made Lola hit the brakes and close her eyes. So many penis-shaped topiaries. It was stupid to think they’d come back from that. Stupid to hope for—
A tap at her driver’s side window forced her eyes to fly open. Startled, she jumped back, hand on the gearshift, ready to throw the car in drive. To get the hell out of this insane—
Before she bolted, Lola registered the light brown hair, the hazel eyes sleepy but dazzling in the sun. When Carmen smiled — teeth straightened in childhood, not adulthood like Lola — the tightness in Lola’s chest loosened. Her jaw unclenched. Her pulse slowed and then jolted for a completely different reason.
Lowering her window instead of opening the door, Lola didn’t get a chance to speak before Carmen did.
“My neighbor Adela is probably ten seconds from calling the neighborhood watch because you’re idling here,” Carmen said, smile unwavering. She leaned over, resting her bare forearms on Lola’s open window frame. “Full disclosure. The head of the watch is an even nosier woman named Marlena and the only reason she’s delaying is because they’ve been feuding since the great Banyan debacle of 1972.”
Lola furrowed her brow, unsure of how to respond. Unsure of how to get out of her car. How to stop feeling like she was living in borrowed skin.
“Pull into the driveway,” Carmen said, pointing to the paved stone neatly arranged in front of the wooden garage door of her white stucco house.
Carmen walked away in her shorts and her t-shirt and her long hair loose and carefree. In flip-flops, she strode up the walkway of her beautiful house and beckoned Lola to follow.
Palm sweating, the leather of the gearshift slipped under her grip. Her instinct told her to leave. To cut her losses, take the good memories in California, and leave before anyone got hurt.
But Carmen was on her front step waiting for her, a shimmering possibility of something else. Shoving down her doubt and telling herself that sometimes fear masqueraded as instinct, she reversed and pulled into Carmen’s driveway.
CHAPTER46
Walkingtoward her from the car that had once been the bane of Carmen’s commute, Lola moved with uncertainty. She hadn’t bothered to change either. Her strong arms were tanned and bare, black hair piled into a loose bun, dark eyes flickering. She was physically beautiful, but it was her intensity that Carmen couldn’t resist.
“I knew you couldn’t go an hour without me,” Carmen said when Lola finally stepped up to her front door, teasing her instead of throwing her arms around her and confessing over and over that she’d missed her.
“Please, you’re the one who’s obsessed with me,” she replied, body tight like she was crossing the border into enemy territory.
Carmen laughed and decided to wait until Lola relaxed to suggest grabbing her suitcase out of the backseat. The idea of commingling laundry was probably too much. “Let me give you a tour,” she said instead.
