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“She’s not a zoo animal,” Lucky protested. “She’s sparkly and she smells good and she’s so pretty!”
I finally succeeded in pulling my face out of his neck to find not just the children, but an older teen looking on as well.
“Hello,” I tried for normalcy.
Lucky nodded towards the two tweens. “These hooligans are Ben and Abby. They belong to Darcy, my second oldest sister. And that gorgeous woman, wearing a skirt that is entirely too short, is my niece Rosa, Daniela’s youngest.”
Lucky finally released me when I extended my hand to Rosa, Rosa of the rolling eyes. Ah, good. I’d remember her name.
“Nice to meet you, Minty,” she offered her hand along with a sweet smile. Lucky had not exaggerated. She was beautiful with caramel skin, dirty blond hair and light eyes.
“Hello, Ben. Hello, Abby.”
“Hello. It’s nice to meet you,” they said, but made it clear that it was Lucky who held their interest. “Did you bring your guitar?”
“Of course. Ben, you can get it and put it in the house. Abby, you open the doors and make sure he doesn’t scuff the guitar. Or Aunt Daniela’s walls!” he added as an afterthought.
Rosa rolled her eyes. “Mustn’t scuff the walls.”
“Oh, please,” Lucky mock complained. “Spare me the teenaged angst. What are they making you do? Have a part time job? Come home before one o’clock in the morning? Study?”
Rosa’s face fell, and Lucky stood up straight. “What is it, Rosa?”
“Nothing. It’s okay. But maybe you can talk to them later? They want me to go to school for business and I want to go for music!”
“Ah, yes. I’ll talk to your mom and dad.” He linked his fingers through mine and stepped forward to throw an arm around Rosa. “Put it on the back burner for now. Let’s have a good day together?”
“Yeah, Lucky. Okay.”
“Lucky? Not ‘Uncle’ Lucky? I’ve been demoted?”
And so it went with each member of the family.
Lucky and his siblings all had the same signature blond hair. stormy grey eyes, and larger than life personalities.
Daniela, the oldest at forty-three and today’s hostess, had three kids with her husband Carlos. The oldest, Rafael, was twenty-six. They got started very early, then took a six-year break before having Isabella and then Rosa. Their father’s Mexican heritage combined with Daniela’s blond hair and grey eyes made them a stunning couple and gave each of their children luminescent caramel skin. Only Rosa had light eyes.
Darcy, mother to Ben and Abby, the driveway greeting committee, appeared harried and overworked. Lucky whispered that after her divorce her husband had pulled a slow-mo vanishing act, leaving her to parent alone.
Several picnic tables created a semi-circle, each covered with a tablecloth and laden with beverages, napkins, paper plates, condiments, and coolers. Music blared from a speaker tucked up on the back patio, and lawn chairs dappled the grass. It was not a large backyard.
The number of people, the tables, the tweens, the toddlers, and the toddler pop-up shelters stuffed with toys, made the space even cozier.
Lucky’s brother, Raiden, handed Lucky a drink and clapped him on the back. “Well, I haven’t met one of your girlfriends since prom night. Introduce me?”
Just as handsome as Lucky, but somehow harsher, Raiden had lost the boy-next-door look somewhere along the way. If he ever had it.
A picture of myself as the filling in their man sandwich flashed in my brain. You want to fuck him. You want to fuck both of them.
I smiled it away and extended my hand. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”
My voice sounded cool, distant.
Oh, no. He would think me unfriendly.
The vision flashed again, same picture. This time it stayed.
Can he read your mind? What if he can read your mind and thinks you want that? What if Lucky thinks you want it? He’d be so hurt.
