“What is this?” Rita yelled from her spot over by the couch. “Did you pick up crochet and needlepoint as a new hobby now that you’re old and in your forties?” she asked, pointing to the bag of supplies that Iris must’ve left on the couch.
“Those would be mine,” Iris’s voice sounded from the hallway. “Sorry. I can move them.”
She walked into the living room to quietly collect her bag while my entire family silently stared at her, wide-eyed, as if she were an alien.
My mom, Dani, and brother-in-law JT all had giant grins on their faces, but it was my dad who spoke first.
“Hi, I’m Bruno, Hector’s dad,” my old man said, sticking his hand out to her as she put her bag of supplies on the side table.
“Umm, hi,” Iris said nervously, shaking his hand. “I’m Iris.”
“And I’m Elena, Hector’s mother,” she said, leaving my side to walk over to Iris and engulf her in a hug without giving her the chance to say no. “We’re sorry. We didn’t know he had company over.”
“What she means is that we never thought you would be cool enough to have friends,” Rita said to me, though loud enough for everyone to hear.
I rolled my eyes as Dani stepped up next to me and slapped me on the upper arm. I looked down at her to see she was signing to me.
Most of the time, we were good about signing while we talked so she was part of the conversation, but clearly the shock of Iris being here caught everyone off guard.
I turned to her and signed to her.“This is Iris. She’s staying with me until some repairs are made at her apartment.”
I hadn’t wanted to tell everyone the whole story, so this was enough to fill them in without giving them everything.
“Is she your girlfriend?”she signed back.
Not yet,I thought.
I knew it was wrong. I had just spent the last few daystelling myself she was off-limits, that this would never work between us, and that I was no good for her. But this morning something had shifted. After seeing her this morning in her glasses and short shorts, with her amazing tits pressing against her T-shirt, messy hair, and batter on her face, something in me had snapped.
Then, she’d kissed me, and she’d tasted so damn good. Her body pressed up against me had felt so right. The control I had been reigning in just…snapped.
I decided that if she was still willing to take the risk after everything I had told her, who was I to stop her? Plus, after finally getting a taste of her this morning, I knew there was no way I could ever go back to not having her in my life.
My pause must have given my thoughts away, because Dani tapped my shoulder, bringing my attention back to her.
“Then you better introduce me if she’s going to be in your life,”she signed, and then her face softened.“I’m happy for you.”
She gave me a big smile before I walked with her over to where everyone else was.
“Iris,” I said, getting her attention as I walked right up next to her side. “This is my sister Dani, my other sister Rita, and her husband JT.”
I pointed everyone out while also signing everyone’s name so Dani could follow along.
I then introduced Iris and told them the same story about her staying with me while repairs were made to herapartment. Iris looked at me with a small smile, which I took to be appreciation for keeping it simple.
“Alright, all of you interrupted our breakfast, so make yourselves comfortable and let us finish making it,” I told them, putting my hand at the small of Iris’s back and guiding her back into the kitchen with me.
“We brought chilaquiles for your birthday, but I have to reheat them,” my mom said, pointing to the bags on the coffee table.
“I’ll put them in the fridge, and we can eat them later,” I told her, knowing, like the last few birthdays, they would stay for several hours.
I grabbed the bags from the table and guided Iris back to the stove.
“You don’t have to help,” Iris said to me. “You can stay with your family, and I’ll finish cooking. I have enough batter to feed everyone because I was going to take the extras over to Nancy later.”
“I’d rather help you in the kitchen than be around them,” I said, and it was the truth, because the moment they got me away from Iris, the new Spanish Inquisition would begin.
She smiled up at me. “They don’t seem that bad, Hector.”
