The thought of them belly dancing and weight training makes me chuckle.
“This funny to you?”
I bite my lip. “No, Papa. Sorry. I was thinking about something else.”
Papa sighs.
It’s now or never, Cam.
“Papa, I didn’t break up with Aaron for Owen.”
“Then why?”
“I didn’t break up with him, period. Aaron broke up with me,” I blow out a breath. “A few months later, he married Sabine.”
Papa sits back like I slapped him. And in a way, I did slap him - with the truth. I never told my family why Aaron and I broke up. They assumed I did the breaking since they loved Aaron so much, and I didn’t want to change their opinions of him.
“Thatpendejo!”
“Papa!” I swat his arm. “There’s no need to call him stupid.”
“If this man broke up with my beautiful daughter, then he is the stupidest man on the planet,” Papa then proceeds to curse Aaron’s family under his breath in Spanish.
I laugh. “Papa, we were both stupid kids. You can’t hold that against him the rest of his life.”
Papa stops calling for God to bring a case of locusts onto Aaron’s house and looks at me. “Then why are you still mad at him.”
Damn. He’s good. Crafty bastard.
I roll my eyes.
He smiles.
My phone buzzes again.
Papa points at it with narrowed eyes. “Who is thisR.M.? Do I need to get Lucio to check him out? Will I need to go for my shotgun at home?”
Now we know where Luke gets it.
“No, Papa,” I slap his hand. “There’s no need for anything like that. When it’s time for me to say something, I will. But this is not that time.”
“Is it time to let this thing with Aaron go, then? And perhaps let your family in? We love you. We want the best for you. But you were always so independent. Like you didn’t need us or anything.”
“That’s the definition of independent. And you did raise me to be that way.”
“There’s independent, and then there’s alone,” Papa sighs again. “I know you don’t want to be needy. But wanting people in your life is not needy. It’s healthy. We are not meant to live our lives on an island,Mija.It’s okay to let people in, especially the ones who love you.”
Damn it. Here come the angry tears. Who’s making me mad? I don’t want to workshop that right now. And I certainly don’t want these fucking tears to spill right out of my face. I sniff and look around the garage, looking to change the subject.
“Don’t you think it’s weird Wysdom and Luke have a four-car garage but don’t park in it?”
Papa laughs, then stands. “Oh,Mija. We’ll get you a tour. This isn’t where Lucio and Wysdom park their cars. Their garage is on the other side of the house. This is the garage for the children.”
I gape. “Two of those children aren’t even one!”
He shrugs. “You know Lucio, always planning ahead. Preparing his forever home for his family. Now, perhaps we get back to dinner, yes?”
I link my arm through his, and we take the five-mile hike back to the dining room.
