“Or you could spend Christmas Eve with us.”
“Definitely the latter.” She gulped. “I can’t even believe that I’m not going to spend Nochebuena with my family.”
He had never really traditionally celebrated Nochebuena, with the exception of his nanny teaching him to make paper poinsettia flowers. He was so disconnected from his culture that sometimes he felt like he wasn’t really Mexican. How could he ask about it without sounding like an idiot?
“How do you celebrate?”
Her face lit up. “Well, my mom, her sisters, and my sisters would make tamales. I usually got out of it because I’d perform with the Ballet Folklórico. There would be mariachis at the performance. When we’d get home, we would drink atole and each open one present.” She gulped and her voice became laced with sadness. “It was really wonderful.”
She paused over the wordwas. “Do you want to go home?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to ruin my sisters’ holiday by making it a big fight with Mamá and Papá and me.”
“Well, I’ll be honest. I never celebrated it. My parents were usually on vacation, so we stayed with our nannies. They thought presents were good substitutes for love. But Julieta and her mom have planned to have it at our home. Not sure exactly what they are going to do, but Julieta is an incredible cook, and they go all out for holidays, so it will be fun.”
She nodded and looked down.
Enrique lifted her chin with his hand. “Spend it with me?”
She grinned. “I’d love to.”
They packed up the few things they had brought or purchased on this unplanned trip, grabbed coffee and Danish from the hotel café, and then checked out.
Highway One was still closed from the storm the other night, so they took the 101, which didn’t have as nice of a view. Instead of miles upon miles of the glorious rocky coast and driving through one of Enrique’s favorite places in the world, Big Sur, they were relegated to views of asphalt and wall-to-wall traffic and tacky billboards. Not to mention smog instead of the crisp ocean air.
The drive was, well, awkward. Carolina stayed mostly silent, surely processing and planning for her future.
A future that Enrique hoped to be part of.
But what would that look like? Would she move to San Diego? Buy a farm down there? Work on his? Get her own place?
Though Enrique was crazy about her, he felt strongly that Carolina needed to stand on her own and not jump from her father’s house to his.
And how would she cope with being cut off from her family? Enrique needed Ramón and Jaime—no matter how often they fought. He couldn’t fathom a life without them.
A wince of sadness spread through him. Though he didn’t agree with his father’s actions, it must be hard for his dad to be cut off from his sons. Maybe he would reach out when he returned.
Enrique didn’t regret coming to Santa Maria, but he had to admit that in entering Carolina’s world, he had blown up her life.
But he believed that these tumultuous events, no matter how much they hurt, were meant to be. And that he and Carolina were destined to be in each other’s lives.
Maybe it was crazy enough to work.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Enrique parked his SUV in front of the blue-shingled beach house in Montecito. He exited the Tesla and opened the door for Carolina.
Nerves swirled inside of her. Instead of celebrating with her own family, she was here at her new boyfriend’s oceanfront second home for Nochebuena, a holiday he didn’t celebrate. Enrique was Mexican, but their backgrounds were vastly different. The guy was about as SoCal surfer as you could get. He didn’t even speak Spanish, which wasn’t his fault. So many Mexicans didn’t speak Spanish because their parents and grandparents had tried to assimilate. Then their children and grandchildren had to struggle to learn their native tongue and be accepted among fellow Mexicans.
Still, the fact remained that they had wildly different lifestyles. He woke up early every morning to surf; she rose with the sun to sow seeds. Why was she delusional enough to think that this could possibly work out?
But, as she assured herself over and over again, her newfoundfreedom and independence were only sparked by him, not because of him. Yes, she had been comfortably complacent in her rigid ways, but for a long time she had secretly wanted more. Every time her father had nagged her about when she would meet someone, she had just politely told him that she wasn’t ready yet, instead of saying what was really on her mind. She had even set this whole course in motion by lying to her dad about Enrique being her boyfriend. Had she never felt that pressure, she wouldn’t have done that.
But then again, she wouldn’t be here with Enrique now. And she was really enjoying spending time with him.
Until now, there had never been a valid reason to disrupt her life.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the car mirror. Her hair was frizzy, and her skin looked blotchy. Would Enrique be embarrassed by her? This was the first dinner with his family. And since her family had disowned her over this situation, his family’s approval was important.
