But why would he do that?
I didn’t narrow my eyes, but I wanted to. “That would save gas…” I cleared my throat. “Maybe not on the days Louie doesn’t come though.”
And this man, this man of my dreams who I didn’t know I even wanted, stitched back up a whole inch of that part of my heart that hadn’t been the same since my brother. “I don’t mind picking up Lou.” There was a pause and he blinked those beautiful eyes. His voice was hesitant. “Unless you don’t want me to?”
Didn’t want him to? What a dumbass.
I smiled at him, trying to tell him with my eyes that I wanted him to love me back. To kiss me again. To tell me what he wanted from me. “What did I tell you about stupid questions, Mr. Clean?”
* * *
Ihad just finished settingthe last clean dish on the rack when my phone rang from wherever I’d left it.
“Aunt Di! It’sabuelita!”Josh shouted from the living room a moment before the slapping of his feet on the floor warned me he was coming.
Sure enough, he had my phone outstretched in his hand; his practice uniform still on. Before I’d gone into the kitchen to wash dishes, he, Lou, and Dallas had all been sitting in front of the television, taking turns playing video games. It was too much. So I’d gotten up and decided to wash dishes while I collected my thoughts.
“Thanks, J,” I told him, taking the phone from his hand. “Hey, you and Lou need to go ahead and get ready for bed, all right? It’s past ten.”
The entire time I’d been talking, his lip started to snarl a little but he nodded, reluctant and shit. “You want me to tell Mr. Dallas to go?”
No, I didn’t want him to kick out the neighbor, but I couldn’t exactly say that. “Don’t worry about it. You and Louie get ready for bed. Dallas can leave when he’s ready.”
Josh nodded and turned to walk out of the kitchen as I brought the phone to my face.
“¿Bueno?”
There was silence before my mom’s voice came over the line, slow and crawling. “Who is at your house?” she asked in Spanish.
I hated rolling my eyes seconds into our conversation, but I couldn’t help it. “My neighbor.”
“You have a man at your house?”
She was hissing. Fantastic. “Yes,Mamá.”
“It’s ten o’clock at night!”
“I know,” I told her, drawing the letters out in frustration. “Did you need something?”
“Is he alone with the boys right now?” She was still speaking in quick, angry Spanish.
Fuck. “Ma, did you need something?”
“¿Qué piensas? Qué estás haciendo?”
“I know what I’m doing, Mom,” I told her as calmly as possible even though the reality was, I never had any idea what I was doing. Ever. “What do you need?”
“Diana,” she grumbled. “Is he going to spend the night?”
“Oh my God,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “Mom,tell me why you’re calling. I still need to put the boys to sleep and I have to go to sleep.”
“Que Dios me bendiga.¿Donde te fallé?”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head in exasperation. She had just asked where she had failed me. God help me.
“It’s the man with the tattoos?”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, already deciding I needed to find my Pop-Tarts and stick two of them in my mouth at once. “Si. What do you need?”
