Once dinner was ready, her mom placed her beside Drew at the long wooden table that dominated the family dining room. A table that could be extended by one or two leaves, depending on the size of the gathering. Tonight, only Rosie’s immediate family was in attendance—her parents, her siblings and their partners, and her sixteen-month-old niece. All for the best since Drew might have been overwhelmed if the entire Gonzalez clan had shown up.
After Mamá led everyone in saying grace, she turned to Drew. “Since you’re our guest of honor, you can go first. I assume you’re familiar with Mexican cooking?”
He gave her an affable grin—the kind that could charm any parent. “Mostly tacos, but I’m open to anything.”
“Good. The platter nearest to you has chicken enchiladas in salsa verde, and the bowl beside it contains Mexican red rice. The other two bowls have calabacitas— zucchini mixed with tomatoes and corn—and frijoles charros, which are beans with chorizo, bacon, and jalapeño. The melon slices are sprinkled with Tajín, but if you’d prefer plain melon, we have that, too.”
He reached for the platter of enchiladas. “Everything looks delicious. I’m glad I brought my appetite.”
Mamá beamed at him. “Thank you. It gives me so much pleasure to share a meal with my children on Sunday nights. It’s even better when they bring someone special along. Not that my daughter gave me much warning this time.”
Rosie’s sister, Isabella, took two slices of melon and passed the bowl down the line. “Yeah, Rosie. What’s up with that? Last time we talked—which was literally five days ago—Drew’s name didn’t come up.”
“On Thursday, Má asked me to bring one of my colleagues to dinner so he could meet you,” Jaime said. “What gives?”
His wife, Camila, glared at him. “Seriously, Jaime? Cut Rosie a little slack. You never even asked her if she was interested.”
Rosie was about to respond when Drew rested his hand on her thigh. Though she suspected he was just trying to show his support, his touch sent a tiny shiver along her spine. Feeling bolder, she placed her hand over his. The intimacy of touching him in secret filled her with an unexpected longing.
Don’t get carried away. Remember, this isn’t real.
She focused on answering her family’s questions. “Sorry for not giving you more warning, but Drew and I have actually known each other for a while.”
“Really?” Isabella said. “The last time you were dating someone, you wouldn’t stop talking about him, and he turned out to be a jerk. So excuse me if I’m a tad dubious about you showing up with a guy you’ve never mentioned before.”
Rosie fought back the urge to snap at her sister. She didn’t like being reminded of the mistake she’d made with Erik, trusting him enough to bring him home. His behavior at dinner had been so condescending that she’d spent all evening cringing with guilt.
Drew flashed sad puppy dog eyes at her. “You never mentioned me, honey? Not once? I’m wounded.”
Playing along, she gave his shoulder a gentle poke. “Sorry, sweetie. But to be fair, we started as friends.”
“Where did you meet?” Isabella demanded.
“At Northlife Fitness—the gym around the corner from the Duchess,” Drew said. “I work there as a group fitness instructor and personal trainer. I think it was about a year ago—maybe a little more—when Rosie joined the gym. She took a few of my boot camp classes and then started working with me to concentrate on strength training.”
“Ooh, one-on-one personal training.” Isabella raised her eyebrows. “I’d like that. It sounds kinda sexy.”
“Isabella Maria,” Mamá snapped. “Your husband isright there.” She pointed to Isabella’s husband, Peter, who’d ended up with the thankless job of watching over their daughter, Graciela, as she made a mess of her dinner. By the looks of it, more rice had gotten on the tray of her high chair than into her mouth.
Isabella rolled her eyes. “I was just kidding, Má.”
“Anyway, after a few months of working out together, Rosie and I grew closer,” Drew said. “When she stopped coming to the gym because her life got too hectic, I missed her a lot. But last month, we ran into each other during happy hour, and things just clicked.”
Using happy hour as the basis of their story made sense. But rather than admit their meet-up had taken place two days ago, they’d agreed to tell her family it had happened in October.
“That night, Drew asked me out,” Rosie said. “We’ve been together since then. Even though we’re both pretty busy, we want to make it work. Don’t we, sweetie?” She regarded him with a doting smile. Which was a mistake, because she got so caught up in his deep brown eyes that she could barely pull her gaze away. He was selling it, looking at her like she was the embodiment of his dreams.
“If you’ve been together for a month, then why is this the first time I’m hearing about it?” Jaime asked. “Why not bring it up at our last dinner?”
“Maybe she didn’t want to deal with a ton of questions,” Camila said.
Thank you, Camila.Not for the first time, Rosie wondered how her sister-in-law put up with Jaime. “I was about to explain. You all know what a mistake I made with Erik. I hadn’t known him for long when I brought him to dinner. Then I regretted it because he didn’t fit in.”
Mamá clicked her tongue. “That Erik was so wrong for you. I couldn’t see the two of you being happy together.”
Something she’d harped upon repeatedly. It pained Rosie to admit how right she’d been.
Drew spoke up. “Rosie asked me to keep things quiet until we were sure we wanted to go public. I respected her wishes, even though I desperately wanted to show her off.”
