“Just don’t play cards with him. Jack has sticky fingers. He’s not as innocent as he pretends to be,” she warns Alondra. I hide my smile by taking a sip of my hot chocolate as I drape my arm over the back of the booth. She then tells Alondra about the time I hustled her out of a whole bowl of candy while playing Go Fish because she didn’t realize there was a mirror behind her showing me all her cards.
I’ve told Momma a lot of stories about Alondra, and I didn’t have any doubt they’d like each other.
What I didn’t expect was how happy I would feel seeing them get along.
I wait for Momma to shut her door before I get back in my truck, but when I glance over at Al in the passenger seat, her eyes are shut as she leans against the headrest. “Hey, darlin’?” I ask, and her lashes flutter as they open for a brief moment to look at me before closing again as she hums an unintelligible response. “Thanks for coming tonight. Momma was excited to meet you.”
“Aw, pretty boy. I think it’s sweet you talk about me to your mom,” she says, yawning while I reverse and pull out of the parking lot.
I clear my throat, trying to sort through the storm swirling in my head. “I’m really glad you came tonight, Al. I hope you had fun,” I say, taking another peek at her after stopping at a red light, unable to hide my smile at the sight of Alondra wearing my jersey.
She blinks her eyes, catching me staring at her, but instead of saying something sassy with her smart mouth that haunts mydreams, Al smiles back at me. “Everyone was right, your mom is pretty great.”
I tap my fingers against the steering wheel, looking back at the stoplight. This red light is taking forever.
“She is,” I agree.
“You look just like her.”
Thankfully.“I know. I’d rather look like her, though,” I say, feeling restless. I bet everyone’s still at Twin City. I could drop Al off at her place, and lock everything up myself before going to meet everyone and then backtrack to crash on the couch again. “Back to your place?” I ask, and this time her eyes are shut again when I look.
“Can we go back to yours?” she mumbles, and I’m surprised.
“You sure?”
She nods, shivering a little, and I turn up the heat, directing the vent toward Alondra. It doesn’t work as well as it used to, and it’s colder than it should be for this time of year.
Al’s asleep by the time I’m parking in the driveway, and I feel bad waking her up. “Sleep,” she moans, and I huff a quiet laugh.
“You can sleep, but you have to get inside first.”
She sighs, reaching to undo her seatbelt as I get out. I help Al open her door, and she looks so tired. “Ellie said she was staying at Sara’s tonight, but I don’t have to crash here tonight if you don’t want me to,” Alondra says, blinking slowly at me.
“It’s okay. I don’t mind,” I reassure her, offering a hand to help her out of the truck.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know how I got so tired,” she says, accepting the help.
“Why are you apologizing for being tired?”
Alondra shrugs, rubbing her eyes. “Because you played a whole ass game, and I only watched, but you seem perfectly fine.”
I unlock the front door, opening it so she can step through in front of me. “I am tired, but I don’t know. I usually go out after games to work off the rest of my adrenaline. I wouldn’t trade having my momma here for that, though.”Or being here with you, but I can’t say that.
Al stumbles while walking into the house, and I’m afraid she’s going to hurt herself if I let her try to walk all the way to the stairs. After locking the door, Alondra turns to face me after kicking off her shoes, and I take the opportunity to bend down and lift her over my shoulder. She squeaks, and I hold her legs as she kicks them, trying not to laugh. “I thought I told you to not throw me over your shoulder like a caveman.”
“You’re a walking disaster waiting to happen right now because you can’t keep your eyes open long enough to get to the bed,” I say, causing her to snort as I slip out of my shoes, making my way toward my room upstairs.
“I amnota walking disaster, and you barely even gave me a chance to walk. How would you like it if I slung you over my shoulder out of nowhere!”
“All I hear is complaining when you should be thanking me for carrying your ass up the stairs,” I reply sarcastically.
Alondra smacks my ass in response, and a sharp laugh bursts from my throat. Maybe I should have let her struggle instead of carrying her.
I lightly spank her in return, causing her to yelp.
“Hey!”
“Hey!” I mock, opening my bedroom door to drop Al on my bed, and she crosses her arms staring at me.
