But she studied Papá... He looked so happy, seeing her with Enrique. He would not be happy to discover that he was a Montez. Though Carolina knew she could convince him that Enrique was a good guy. Papá was so desperate to marry her off, he shouldn’t care who the guy was.
All her father had ever wanted was for Carolina to find love. How could she disappoint him now, when his health was failing? She didn’t want to make him upset, especially now, and Enrique had been so cool with Las Posadas...
Why would he mind if she told a white lie to make her father happy?
Forgive me, Father, for the lie I’m about to tell.
“Sí, Papá. His name is Enrique.”
Chapter Nine
Novio?
Enrique was the first to admit that his Spanish sucked. His parents didn’t speak any Spanish in their home, since his father wasn’t taught it as a kid. Ramón had made it a point to reclaim his culture in college and had even attended a summer language school in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he had intensive one-on-one Spanish six hours a day, five days a week. Enrique and Jaime had gone as well, but instead of learning español, they’d cut class and spent their nights partying at the discos and their weekends jetting off to Acapulco to catch some rays and women, much to the dismay of their host families, who had opened up their homes to the Montez brothers.
Enrique took Latin in high school because he liked Roman mythology. As for his Spanish, he couldn’t roll his r’s, and even though he could scrape by in his ancestral tongue, he almost had a panic attack every time he tried to have a conversation about anything other than tacos.
But he was certain that he knew the wordnovio.
Boyfriend.
Carolina had just lied to her father and told him that Enrique was her boyfriend. He most certainly was not. They hadn’t gone on a date. They hadn’t slept together. Hell, they hadn’t even kissed!
His body temperature rose. Was there air-conditioning in this room?
Carolina turned to look up at him. Her bottom lip was shaking, a pleading look on her face.
And her father’s eyes were welled with tears.
They looked like happy tears.
Great. Now this sick, possibly dying man thought Enrique was dating his eldest daughter. He noticed they were still dressed as Joseph and the Virgin Mary. It was almost funny... but he wasn’t laughing.
Enrique had two choices. He could play along with it for now, and deal with Carolina later. Or he could take off and let her face the aftermath alone.
But the latter option seemed cruel. She was clearly devastated, her father was ill, and it was the holiday season. Plus, if he fake dated Carolina, then Tiburón would be able to actually date Blanca. And maybe, if he played along with her lie, she would let him spend time on her farm to learn about her agricultural techniques and gain more knowledge about farmworkers’ rights.
And maybe, just maybe, she would agree to provide produce for their restaurants.
Alright. He’d play along. What was the harm?
He walked over and extended his hand to her father. “Mucho gusto, Señor Flores. I’m Enrique Montez.”
Carolina mouthed a thank-you. But he wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easy. He needed to talk with her later.
Victor Flores struggled to push himself up and shake Enrique’shand. The monitor by the bedside started beeping—his heart rate was elevated. “So nice to meet you, young man. Though I’m afraid Carolina has told me nothing about you. And since you failed to ask permission from me to date my daughter in the first place, I have some questions.”
Mamá nudged Papá’s hand. “Be nice. You don’t want to scare him away.”
Enrique pursed his lips. Even if hehaddecided to date Carolina, he would never imagine he had to ask permission from her father. They were both adults.
“He was going to ask permission tonight at Las Posadas, but you weren’t there.” Carolina sat on the bed and handed her father a glass of water from the bedside table. “And you can get to know him later, Papá. For now, let’s focus on how you are feeling.”
He sipped the water. “I’m great. They gave me some good medicine. But I don’t want to talk about my illness.” His gaze narrowed intimidatingly. “I want to learn about the first and only man to capture your heart.”
A look of horror washed over Carolina’s face. “Please don’t work yourself up, Papá. Where’s your doctor?”
“I don’t know where the doctor is. Nor do I care. I want to know about him.” He pointed stubbornly at Enrique. “So, tell me about yourself, son. Where did you two meet?”
