“You are.”
“Iam not.”
“Then why are we still standing out here?”
My stomach twisted. I hated that he could see through me. It made me want to knock just to prove I wasn’t nervous.
Marco shifted awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable with whatever he was about to say. “Look, it’s fine. If anything goes sideways in there, I’ll handle it.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You’llhandleit?”
He shrugged stiffly, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Yeah.”
I fought back a smile at his clumsy attempt to reassure me. God, he was terrible at this—at being comforting, at offering anything close to emotional support. But I saw him trying.
“Fine,” I muttered, finally lifting my hand toward the door. “But if this does go sideways?—”
“I know,” he cut me off dryly, his mouth curving faintly again. “You’ll blame me.”
Before I could talk myself out of it, I knocked on the door.
Marco looked down at me, standing right beside me. He was perfectly calm. I suppose lawyers were good at this kind of stuff, weren’t they?
The sound of footsteps echoed from inside, followed by the low murmur of voices.
I could still leave. I could make up some excuse, say I felt sick, tell Isabel that Marco had awork emergency?—
But then the door swung open.
Too late.
Isabel stood in the doorway with a look of pure relief. “Thank God. I was starting to think you’d bailed on us again,” she said, pulling me in for a hug.
I hugged her back, but the word echoed quietly in my chest.Again.As if I was always on the edge of disappointing her. As if people expected me to vanish, screw things up, or let someone down, because that was just what I did. The worst part was, Isabel probably didn’t even realize she’d said it. It was casual for her. Easy. Second nature.
I forced a smile as I pulled away, shoving down the tight, bitter feeling in my throat. Because maybe she was right. Maybe people expected the worst from me for good reason.
When she let go of me, I saw her eyes drifting over my shoulder, locking onto Marco.
“Hi,” she said in her usual polite manner. “I’m Isabel, her sister.”
“Marco.” He introduced himself with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Before either of us could say anything else, Lucia’s voice shrieked through the hall.
“Tía!”
Then a small, warm body collided with me, knocking me back into Marco. He didn’t move, but his hand held the small of my back steady.
I laughed, catching her easily. “You act as if I haven’t seen you inweeks.”
“I missed you,” she declared, squeezing me tight.
I smiled and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Missed you too,cariño.”
Lucia pulled back just enough to peer around me, and when she spotted Marco, her face lit up. “Youcame!”
Marco didn’t any anything—he just nodded with a smile.
