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Have they all been drinking?
Ciara steps to the side, and I gasp.
“Cassie? What are you doing here?”
“How can you speak to a guest like that?” Dad scolds. “Sofia, your mother and I taught you better.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know she—”
I lose my train of thought as my eyes land on the bouquets of flowers decorating my sister’s living room.
Whoa!
I turn around in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle.
I take it all in.
The music seeping from the speakers—
Holy shit!
Total Eclipse of the Heart?!
It was one of Abuelita’s favorite songs, and it’s become mine. We still have the Bonnie Tyler vinyl record she bought way back when. If there’s a cover, I’ll listen to it—without fail. It’s the kind of song Ciara loves to pretend she hates.
My gaze lands on the roses and the candles—all white—the Christmas tree decked out with white and silver decorations. Man, she went all out. Very chic. A tour of white chocolate truffles sits on the coffee table next to a bucket of ice containing a champagne bottle with a design I recognize—
My eyes snap to my sister’s.
“You bought an expensive bottle of Dom Perignon for a family gathering?! Business must be really good.”
“I didn’t buy it. My pockets aren’t that deep.”
“Then, how did you get your hands on that?” I point.
“I got it through a friend.”
“A friend?” I cock a brow. “At two thousand five hundred dollars a bottle, that’s a great friend.” I snort. “I’d wager, he’s a lot more than just a friend.”
Her smile takes over her face. “You’re right. He’s more than just a friend. So, so much more.”
Well, that wasn’t cryptic.
Mom, Dad, and Cassie look at me with different variations of the weird facial expression my sister is sporting. That alone should ring alarm bells in my head, but I keep blabbering on. “How do you always manage to snag men who are willing to do just about anything for you?”
She places her hands on my shoulders. “The joke’s on you, sis. This friend of mine would do just about anything for you.”
Is she drunk, or high, or both?
Before I can throw a comeback her way, she turns me around.
I jump out of my skin.
I’m staring straight into the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
A shadow of a smile lifts the corner of a beautiful mouth I’ve missed so much.
What the hell?
