Chapter 9
Amuch younger version of Elba screamed and catapulted herself into Zoe’s arms.
“Aunt Zoe! Oh my god! You’re here! You’re here!” She jumped up and down, jarring Zoe’s chin with her shoulder, causing her teeth to snap together.
The doors of the kitchen flew open and Elba burst through. “April, what on earth?”
Zoe watched the worry melt to a smile.
“Hey, you made it.”
“I take it you didn’t tell her I was coming and that she’s feeling better?”
“Yeah.” She turned to the dining room. “Sorry, everyone—family reunion.”
Their audience returned to their lunches. Except for the tall man standing in the back corner…next to the beautiful woman she’d seen leaving his house two days ago.
The universe was a bully. What had she ever done to deserve such bad luck?
April bounced on her toes, still excited by Zoe’s surprise appearance.
“Calma. I’m happy to see you too,caro.”
“April, don’t you have orders to put in?” Elba took her by the shoulders and pulled her away from Zoe.
“Mom,” she whined.
“No ‘mom.’ You wanted to work. This is part of working.”
“Ugh.” April’s shoulders drooped and she dragged her feet but trudged to the computer behind the counter.
“Sorry. I’ve been slammed. Sabrina, my waitress that was sick? Morning sickness, but the kind that lasts all day. You know a man came up with that phrase, right? Morning sickness, my ass.”
“Mmm. I was nauseous twenty-four hours a day for sixteen weeks with all three of my boys. I finally told my husband if he didn’t get the doctor to snip him, I was going to do it myself.”
Zoe sighed. At least Gabby came by her nickname naturally. “Elba, my sister Gabby. Gabby, Elba.”
“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Gabby pulled Elba into a hug and then kissed her on both cheeks.
“Oh! We’re kissing,” Elba said.
“Claro. In Brazil, we kiss.”
“I don’t remember you ever kissing anyone like that,” Elba said to Zoe.
“That’s because the first time I tried to do that a girl called me a spic dyke, so I never did it again.”
Gabby and Elba both gaped.
“You never told us that,” Gabby said
“Oh my god. How old were you?” Elba asked.
“I was twelve, probably.” She looked at Gabby. “We had just moved to the States. I didn’t want to cause any trouble.”
Gabby clucked her tongue. “You should have told us.”
“It was a long time ago. Can we eat? I’m starving.”
