They reached the end of the street and turned back.
“Why do you want to take photography?” he asked.
She dropped her face into Amigo’s fur, but he could still hear her reply as she nuzzled the pup. “I like pictures. I wish I had more pictures of mymamá. I miss her and my friends. I even miss thehermanas. I wish I had pictures of all of them.”
She was hiding her face from him to hide her pain, and it broke his heart. He reached out and pulled her into his side. “Do you think thehermanaswould allow you to be pen pals with some of the children? You could send emails and attach pictures that you’ve taken, or you could handwrite the letters. Handwriting would be more personal. You could enclose printed pictures or drawings, or we could even buy some stickers for you to send.”
Javier stopped walking while Lola sat down Amigo. He wasn’t prepared for her to turn and throw herself at him. Herslender arms wrapped around him, and she buried her face in his shirt, sniffling.
“Hey now,” he murmured while stroking a hand down her long curly hair. “Don’t cry.”
A flood of Spanish was wailed into his shirt. He didn’t know what to do, so he just kept petting her hair with one hand as he hugged her to him with the other, and repeated, “It’s okay.” He hadn’t thought his suggestion would be met with such an emotional response, and he was ashamed of himself for not thinking to offer it sooner.
“Let’s get back in the house. Once we pick your electives, we can look online for some stationery. If Mother Superior agrees, I’ll have some sent there as well.”
Lola looked up at him, still sniffling. “Thank you, Javi. You’re the best cousin ever. I love you.”
A knot formed in his throat. This kid was gonna have him crying outside for the world to see. “I love you, too,chiquita. Just remember, if you’re ever sad, just talk to me. We’ll figure out how to make things better. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said as she hugged him tight.
Both his girls were struggling. He’d straightened Lola out, but Camdyn had yet to come home and he was getting worried. He knew how her brain worked, and she was probably overanalyzing and making contingency plans. He needed to talk with her. Her parents lived nearby, but he didn’t want to leave Lola alone. She was old enough that he could, she’d even been doing a little babysitting for Lie, but he didn’t want to take her with him because he didn’t want her eavesdropping and getting upset again. She was still dealing with a lot for someone so young.
He picked up his phone and tried to call Cami again. Straight to voicemail. She must have turned her phone off.
He hadn’t meant to upset her by not telling her immediately what the team was proposing, but it hadn’t seemed that important at the time because there was no finalized plan.
Javi’s phone rang, but it was the wrong Gallegos calling. He’d missed a call from Cal earlier, and between Lola and Cami, he’d forgotten to call the guy back.
“’Sup, Cal?” he answered.
“Camdyn was supposed to tell you to call me,” his friend complained.
The dude had been ornery ever since his breakup.
“Are you in Phoenix or Oasis?” asked Javi.
“I was in Phoenix earlier today, but I’m almost to Oasis now. Why?” Cal responded.
“Come to my place. I need you to sit with Lola for me.”
“Whoa now. I’m not a babysitter.”
“She’s not a baby. I need someone to just stay with her for a little bit while I track down your sister. She got upset earlier today because there’s a possibility of me being sent back to the minors and I didn’t immediately tell her. She left wanting time to herself for a bit and she hasn’t come back. I need to find her so we can talk it out, but I don’t want to take Lola with me. I’m not going to let your sister break up with me over something this insignificant,” Javi explained.
“Bro, you being sent back to the minors is pretty dang significant,” retorted Cal. “I overheard Martin talking on the phone to someone about it today in the gym.”
“What was Martin saying?” asked Javi.
“All I heard was you were being traded to Reno.”
That explained how Cami knew, but he still asked to verify, “Did you tell your sister that?”
“Yeah. I tried to call you, but you wouldn’t answer the phone,” Cal said.
Javi was going to beat down Cal. Then go after Cami. Hopefully, she’d forgive him for knocking some sense into her brother.
“Are you almost here yet?” he growled into the phone.
