AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mainly because someone, even after I blocked them, keeps sending me photos of her with Alberto. It winds me up in a way that makes me want to kill him. The same way that I did with Hiroshi in Tokyo. I know Leticia’s heart belongs to me, but only the last few weeks. She has a history with this guy that I can’t erase.
Fuck him!
“¿Puedes dejarme un cigarrillo6?” I ask the driver, before getting out of the car. I need something to take me off the edge and to stop my stomach from rumbling, and a cigarette will do that. He opens his pack and gives me one to select from. All the bad habits I’ve ditched years ago are coming to haunt me in the space of two days since I landed back in Madrid.
As I step out of the car, ready for him to light it up, I’m shocked as I notice our surroundings.
Did Adriana own a taxi fleet or something?
There’s around ten yellow taxis lined up beside ours. And even one of them is black and yellow, which means it’s not even from around here. It’s from Barcelona, which is hundreds of kilometers away from here.
Did he come all the way here for her funeral?
I shrug, he must have done, then as my driver lights up my cigarette I huddle with everyone else, listening to their talks about Adriana’s kindness.
“My sister was sick, so I was working long shifts and I couldn’t tend to her. Abuela used to go there at least two times a day, and give her soup, until she was better. She didn’t even know me. She’ll be missed,” one driver explains.
I listen as he talks about Leticia’s abuela with such kindness that I forget to go inside. Part of me enjoys hearing the many tales of her kindness. Leticia told me so many times, but hearing about all the lives she has impacted and them all showing up here today proves it.
I’ve started helping others and maybe they will remember my name, and I wonder if anyone would think of me in the same light as they’ve done with Leticia’s abuela.
I nod my head as I inhale and suck in the fumes, remembering my youth as if it were only yesterday. I was a child sent to stay with my grandparents for the summer and I would hang out with my friends who had the same fate.
We would all meet up, one of us would bring alcohol that they’d snuck out of their parents’ bar. My job was always to bring mi abuelo’s cigarettes and another was to bring food from their dad’s restaurant. We would sit in the fields, talking and drinking about our lives outside of the village. They would love to hear stories about America and what the girls were like compared to the Spanish girls.
I was like a God to them, because I knew what life was like outside of here. I loved that feeling of them treating me like this,because George had made a point of making me feel as if I was anything but special.
“Diego, what are you doing out here? Come in,” Lucas snaps as he stands in front of me. It’s as if I’m in a daze, because I didn’t notice that the cigarette I was smoking had finished, nor the guys I were listening to had gone inside.
“Lo siento.”
“It seems to be your favorite word, but it’s not going to cut it. As soon as I got here, Leticia was asking for you,” he says as he cuts his eyes at me.
Shit, when did he get so snappy?
“Where’s Abuela?”
He ignores my question, as I try to keep up his pace. It’s amazing how I can jog for miles every day, but if I break my fitness routine for a few days I feel like crap. I’m exhausted and feel lightheaded because I can’t remember the last time I had a decent meal.
No drinking today, that’s for sure. It’s done too much damage. The two women in my life who need me here don’t have me at all, because I’m too busy just thinking about myself. I should take a leaf out of Leticia’s abuela’s book and just do more selfless acts, then I wouldn’t have to get wasted when the heat gets too much.
My phone chimes, so I quickly take a peek in case it’s something important.
“¡Joder!”
Once again, another photo of Alberto and Leticia. Who is doing this to me?
I feel as if I’m about to snap as we reach the door, and I head to the front to be with Leticia. I look to my left and I realize why Abuela said that I should be on my best behavior.
What the fuck is he doing here?
1 Hola. Leave.
2 Call me an Uber.
3 Where’s the bathroom?
4 Please behave. Today is an important day for me.
