The night of the party, Camdyn and Javier walked Lola over to Lionel’s early. The plan was for Lie to get Lola settled with his kids and then he’d head over to the party.
Javi knocked on the door, and a moment later, Lie, dressed as Luigi from Mario Bros., pulled it open.
“I’m calling it now. You have the best couple costume,” said Lie.
“Cami picked them out,” replied Javi. He reached for Cami’s hand and brought it to his lips. “They’re perfect aren’t they,cara mia?”
Camdyn kept a stoic expression as Javi kissed her hand. “Oui, mon cher.”
“I don’t know who they’re supposed to be, but they’re acting weird,” stated Lola as she walked into Lionel’s townhouse.
Camdyn couldn’t help but laugh. She’d have to find the Addams Family movies for the girl to watch. There was still so much culturally for Lola to learn.
Lionel smirked at them. “I have pizza on the way. Once it's delivered I’ll head over.”
There were just a few finishing touches for Camdyn to take care of when they reached the pool house. The fog machines and lights had to be turned on. And the DJ and tarot card reader that Camdyn had hired for the night had to be shown where to set up. Otherwise, they were good to go. The caterers had delivered the food earlier and there were a multitude of drinks on ice.
Before long, people started to arrive, so Morticia and Gomez took up positions near the entrance to greet the guests.
The majority of the Diamondbacks organization showed up, a couple friends Cam had made in college, and several of her and Cal’s childhood friends from Oasis. They ate, played games, and socialized for hours, but Camdyn most enjoyed dancing with Javi.
“I love dancing with you,” she said as he held her close.
“Too bad there are no clubs in Oasis,” he replied.
“There’s a honky-tonk we could go to. I also have a friend moving back to Oasis and she’s going to open a dance studio. Maybe she could do some couples classes for ballroom or swing.”
Javi laughed. “Sign us up if she does.”
Camdyn beamed at him. She’d never met a man like Javi before. He was so open and confident. She loved that so much.
Her brother and his date passed by and Javi commented, “I thought they were going to beat us out for best couple costume, but I was worried for nothing; everybody voted for us. It got me thinking though…maybe next year you could be Marilyn Monroe and I could be Joe DiMaggio.”
“Ooh, I like that idea,” she replied. Her man was thinking ahead, and she loved that for them.
CHAPTER 28
He looked at me as if I were a side dish he hadn’t ordered.
– The Big Town by Ring Lardner, American sports columnist & short story author
October had been a blur of activity, but November brought their move to Oasis and a slower pace. Javi had never lived in a small town before. Miami and Phoenix were metropolises. Pensacola had been smaller, but still big enough to be busy. Oasis was different. Nothing was hurried. Everything was quieter. And Javi loved the change.
Having to drive back into Phoenix and fight crazy traffic to pick his mother up from the airport had been his first trip back to the city in weeks. It was exhausting. His mother had taken a few days off work to visit for the Thanksgiving holiday, and since his townhouse in Phoenix was larger than the rental, they’d decided to stay there. Not only did the townhouse have three bedrooms, but it also had a large kitchen with double ovens, making it perfect for all the cooking she’d planned to do.
She had commandeered the kitchen as soon as she’d arrived, and Javi was sure she’d placed a grocery delivery order beforeher flight because a massive order had been dropped off within a couple of hours of her arriving. Since then she’d been cooking all of Javi’s favorites, and he was not complaining. His mother was a wonderful cook. Just tonight she’d made a huge pot ofCarne con Papasfor dinner—his favorite. She’d made enough to feed a small army, but he knew that had been a purposeful decision by his mother to stock his freezer full of leftovers. His mother had also been making items for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving lunch. Earlier, she and Lola had made a pumpkin roll that Javi could not wait to try. The rich smell of cinnamon and nutmeg had made him salivate. His mother had nearly caught him sampling the cream-cheese-and-pecan icing before they’d rolled it.
Tomorrow they’d make the three-hour drive out to Oasis to celebrate Thanksgiving with Camdyn’s family. He was dreading the drive, but it would be a good opportunity for Juana to meet Camdyn’s family. And even though Cami’s mother would have an absolute feast prepared, hismamáwould not hear of them arriving empty-handed. Baking was her trade, and she had already made multiple items to take with them—mostly desserts, but she was making some classic Cuban dishes, too. When she realized Javi had no slow cooker and no cooler, she’d sent him to the store to obtain them, and like the dutiful son he was, he’d fought the holiday traffic in the city to get her what she needed.
When he’d left, Camdyn and Lola had been watching a movie. Each evening they’d taken to curling up on the couch to watch something different, usually with subtitles, because Camdyn said it would help Lola with spelling. Javi wasn’t sure about that, but it couldn’t hurt so he went along with it.
As he was coming back in from his trip to the store he heard his mother call out, “Muchachas, ven y aprende.” He guessed that meant movie time was over.
In the kitchen he found his mother instructing Lola on a pie recipe, while Camdyn sat at the bar and wrote the directions in anotebook. He wanted to laugh because his Camdyn had found a respectful way to avoid assisting his mother with cooking. It was a brilliant idea. She appeared attentive and eager to learn, yet Javi knew she had no intention of ever using those recipes. But he or Lola could.
He sometimes had Lola help him when he cooked. Lola’s mother had taught her the basics, but he’d already learned that Lola had only ever helped prepare group meals. She didn’t know how to make anything in small quantities.
He sat the slow cooker box on the counter. “Mamá, this was the last one they had.”
