“Yeah, I put you on speaker with mydeafroommate,” I reply with irony.
“¡Escuincla insolente, respeta a tu madre!”
“I will when you start making sense,” I retort.
Probably sensing things are about to take a long turn, Lex steps in and says, “Good morning, Mrs. Walker. It’s great to finally meet you—or whatever this is.”
“Is that Alexander?” she practically shrieks.
“Yes.”
It takes her less than a second to transform this into a video call, proving that when she’s motivated, shedoesunderstand how technology works. I grimace as I accept it, aware that we definitely look like we got out of bed ten minutes ago—which we did. At least we both have T-shirts on.
I align the camera with us so she can have us both on her screen. I see the mix of surprise and joy when she sees Lex. “Now I see why you never want to leave Seattle to visit us,” she says in Spanish so Lex won’t understand.
“¡Mamá!”
“Ay, I’m kidding,”she continues in English. “He’s very handsome.”
“And he’srighthere.”
“I see that. It’s good to finally meet you, Alexander. We heard so much about you.”
“Likewise, Mrs. Walker.”
“Please, call me Isabella.”
“Mom, we were calling because we have a question,” I say, ready to rip the band-aid off. “Would you mind if I came down with Lex for Christmas?”
“Isn’t he going to Europe?”
“Not anymore, no.”
“And you want to bring him here?”
“If that’s okay,” I say. Her elation seeps through the phone as she shouts the news to the whole house. “We’ll take that as a yes,” I tell Lex with a grin.
“When are you two coming? Still on the twenty-fourth?” Mom asks, returning her attention to us.
“We have the Christmas office party tomorrow evening, so—”
“We can be there for dinner,” Lex says instead.
“Dinner today?” she asks.
“If you’ll have us, yes.”
My jaw drops at his answer while she goes off to yell the news to my dad and abuela, even more excited than before. “What are you doing?!” I whisper to Lex, putting my hand over my phone.
“The Kelex Christmas party isn’t that great.”
“But this is very sudden.”
“Meeting my family was sudden for you, too.”
“And look where that got us…” I stoically remind him.
“True. But I’ll have a clear advantage because I’ll have underwear on,” he jokes with a charming grin.
