“Then take a break and just be a person who went on a good date.” She handed me a clean spoon. “Here. Keep stirring. And stop worrying so much.”
I took the spoon gratefully. My mother worked beside me in comfortable silence, the kind we’d perfected over years of being each other’s primary person.
“I’m happy for you,” she said after a while. “That you have someone in your life who makes you feel that way. You deserve good things,mija. You’ve earned them a thousand times over.”
The words settled warm in my chest. I wanted to believe them. Wanted to think I deserved Archie and his flowers and the way he looked at me like I mattered.
We worked together for another hour. My mother talked about her book club’s latest selection, some romance novel where the heroine apparently spent two hundred pages being oblivious to the fact that she was in love with her best friend.
“It was so unrealistic,” my mother said, sliding a tray into the oven. “Obviously she should have realized sooner. But the ending made me cry anyway.”
“Is crying at romance novels a requirement for book club membership?”
“Strongly encouraged but not mandatory.” She smiled. “Though Maria cried so hard she had to excuse herself to the bathroom for ten minutes. We were worried.”
“Was the book that good, or is Maria just emotional?”
“Both. She’s been married forty years and still cries at every love story.” My mother wiped her hands on a towel. “I think it’s sweet. That you can be with someone that long and still believe in romance.”
I thought about Hector and Sarah, about the way they looked at each other. Like they’d found something rare and intended to keep it. “I think it’s possible. Just rare.”
“Very rare,” my mother agreed. “But worth it when you find it.”
The front door opened and voices filled the hallway. Young, bright, moving fast.
Lily burst into the kitchen like a small hurricane, her hair escaping from its bun, ballet tights visible under her jacket. “Rosa! We’re back and I’m starving and I did a pirouette without falling!”
Sarah appeared behind her, windblown and laughing, looking happy and glowing in that way she had been since marrying Hector.
She was beautiful in this effortless way, dark hair that always looked perfect even when messy. And the way she carriedherself, confident but never cold. I understood exactly why Hector Valdez had fallen for her.
Lily launched into detailed explanation of everything they’d done with Delia, the ballet instructor, complete with dramatic reenactments that involved spinning in circles and nearly knocking over a vase. Sarah caught it before disaster struck, her reflexes apparently honed by years of parenting an enthusiastic eleven-year-old.
“And then Delia said my form was improving,” Lily continued, “which means I might get to be in the advanced class next semester if I keep practicing. So I need to practice every day. Can we clear space in the living room?”
“You broke a lamp last month,” Sarah pointed out.
“That was an accident! I was practicing my grand jeté and the ceiling was lower than I thought.”
“The ceiling hasn’t moved, sweetheart.”
“Then I’m getting taller, and we need higher ceilings.” Lily spotted me and her face lit up. “Gianna! Did you hear? I did pirouettes!”
I held up my hand for a high five and she smacked it with enthusiasm that nearly knocked me backward. “That’s impressive. Soon you’ll be on stage and we’ll all be in the audience and clap for you.”
“Dad will definitely like it,” Lily said confidently. “He cried at my last recital and tried to pretend he had allergies.”
Sarah smiled, and something about that smile told me she was completely gone for Hector Valdez. The ice-cold businessman everyone else saw wasn’t the man she knew. She’d somehow found the soft parts of him and decided they were worth keeping. “Your father has very convenient allergies.”
My mother handed Lily an empanada fresh from the oven, warning her it was hot. Lily ignored the warning and bit intoit immediately, then made exaggerated faces while fanning her mouth.
“I told you it was hot,” my mother said, but she was laughing.
Sarah caught my eye and tilted her head toward the hallway. I followed her while Lily recovered from her self-inflicted burns and my mother fussed over her.
“How are you really doing?” Sarah asked once we were alone.
I leaned against the wall. “I’m okay. The case is taking up most of my mental energy but I’m managing.”
