“Mami, te dejo el carro.” She hiked a thumb over her shoulder and grabbed her bag. “My mom needs the car, so we have to go in yours.”
“That’s fine.” I nodded slowly, trying to not be too obvious as I assessed her clothes.
She’d put on some silver vans, black skinny jeans, and a dark red sweater. As far as outfits went, it was nothing that should’ve had me holding back from running my hands over the little bit of light brown shoulder showing where her sweater slid down. I distracted myself by picking up the cat and moved toward the door.
“You look great.” It came out before I knew it. She was bending over the cat and inspecting her eye, which looked pretty gross. She looked up and a tiny smile ghosted over her lips.
“Thanks.”
A second later, the woman who was a bit older and darker-skinned version of Julia walked out of the bedroom. “Esperate, mija. Dejame conocer a tu amigo.” Julia’s mom looked her over, like she wasn’t sure what was going on with her. “Estas tan rara.”
Without stopping to hear Julia’s response at being called weird, she came up to me, but before she spoke I greeted her in my best Spanish.
“Buenos dias, Señora Ortiz. Encantado en conocerla.” Both Julia and her mom came to a dead stop and turned to stare at me.
“Rocco. Fucking. Quinn. You can do a lot more than manage in Spanish.” Julia’s tone was full of surprise and just a little bit pissed off. And again my dick was getting ideas.
Julia’s mom sucked in her teeth at the swear word and shook her head. “Niña, por favor.Language.Hola, Rocco. I’m Yolanda. I swear we didn’t raise her to be this rude. Your Spanish is very good.” Yolanda’s accent was so familiar, one I’d grown up hearing in Corona. It was comforting to hear it.
I looked over at Julia and winked at her before answering her mom. “Thanks. I minored in Spanish in college, and in the city there are lots of opportunities to practice. Here too.”
Yolanda’s face was glowing with approval at my gringo Spanish, while Julia glared at me.
“Sorry, Mami.” Julia looked a bit contrite as she handed me the laundry basket full of cat. Her eyes were zeroed in on me though. “How come you didn’t share the fact that you’re fluent in Spanish with us?” She didn’t have to explain, she meant the entire GEC crew. “I mean other than Dani, the rest of us speak Spanish.” I was about to say “not with me” when she pursed her lips as if she’d just realized that fact herself.
I lifted a shoulder and tried to look coy, hoping it wouldn’t come back to bite me. “Are you worried you said something mean about me?”
She shook her head and a smile tugged at her lips again. I wasn’t going to lie. Seeing her looking amused and just a little impressed by me made me feel ten feet tall.
“I haven’t said anything about your shady ass that I didn’t mean.” With that she pointed toward the door. “Let’s go before this pulgosa in the basket turns my apartment into a flea-ridden den.”
I got moving, waving at Yolanda as we headed out. “Adios, Señora Ortiz.”
Julia rolled her eyes at my ass kissing and stepped out onto the small porch in front of her place. She was on the ground floor, so my car was just on the other side of the green hedge surrounding the apartments.
“That’s me.” I pointed at the black sedan.
She rolled her eyes and walked purposefully. “I know which one is your car, Rocco. I’ll drive and you hold the kitten. That thing looks poxy and I’m not trying to get pink eye from a stray cat today.”
I tried very hard to keep a straight face, because I knew I wasnotsupposed to find her saltiness adorable. So, I gave a terse nod and a very serious “Yes, ma’am,” and handed her my keys.
The cat in question was now curled up on the towel bed Paula made for her and not fazed by Julia’s annoyance in the slightest. She still looked pretty feeble, her little eye glued shut with yellow gunk and she was really dirty. We slid into the car and Julia set up the Google map on her phone to guide us to the vet’s office. Within moments we were on the road.
Julia looked over at me as I worriedly watched the kitten take short, fitful breaths in her sleep.
Her face softened and she shook her head, eyes on the road. “She’ll be fine. She drank all that milk Paula gave her and she seems to be sleeping okay. They’ll just need to check her out and give her the shots she needs.”
I nodded, feeling more at ease now that Julia had said the exact same thing I’d been thinking. Except her saying it calmed down all my nerves, something I’d failed to do for myself.
“I’m sorry I interrupted your time with your family. I didn’t know they were coming.”
Julia laughed at whatever she was thinking. “I didn’t either. They were in front of my apartment when I got home yesterday.” She scoffed, but the big grin on her face told me she was not unhappy about the impromptu visit.
I felt a pang of something, not regret exactly, because I didn’t want to be with my parents. But Julia’s obvious delight to have her family here touched on a sore spot that I avoided almost at all costs.
“I’m glad they came to see you.” I bit my tongue before I said something utterly ridiculous like, “I’m glad your parents give a shit about you.” That was too dramatic and I didn’t need to make it about me. She was already being nice enough to leave her family to help me with the cat.
Julia took her eyes off the road for second and gave me a concerned look. “Why do you look like someone punched you in the stomach? That cat’s going to be fine.”
